Fate Extra: Fragments of Oblivion
by Hikaru 2000
Summary: Time and time she lost again...yet she refused to give up. She knew that it was a foolish wish, but her heart yearned for it nonetheless.
1. In the Eyes of the Scared Bunny

She was running, panting, sweat dripping down her forehead as she pushed forward. Her tiny legs ached, but she ignored the pain. Quickly, quickly, quickly did she ran as fast as those legs could take her, her heart beating so fast that it threatened to jump out of her chest.

Taking a glance, her eyes widened in horror at the black mass of mud gradually creeping towards her. She opens her mouth to scream, alas, her voice had already been paralyzed in her throat by then.

Scrambling up the staircase, adrenaline pumping in her veins, she tried not to look at the countless bodies littering the floor, everything in her mind yelling for her to just keep going. Her feet were barely up the last step before the hideous substance began trailing after her, devouring the countless bodies that got in its way.

Throwing the door open, a cold gust of wind blows at her face as she tumbles out onto the rooftop, slamming the door behind her. Looking around, she frantically searches for any means of escape. Alas, to her misfortune, she was trapped within a fenced area.

Looking back, she sees the foul black mud slowly creeping out from the crack of the door, having caught up to her. It chases after her relentlessly even as she has her back pressed against the edges of the fence, tears lacing her eyelids.

Gripping the metal fence, all she could do was shut her eyes tight for what was about to come. She gritted her teeth when she felt the mud swallow her feet, a seething pain enveloping her entire being. No, she didn't want it to end like this, she didn't want to disappear yet.

 _She didn't want to die_.

 **0** **1010101010101010101010101010101** **0**

 _Data reset. Registry of participants successful. Undergoing preparations for destruction. Estimated time: 10 hours._

The girl awakes abruptly, perspiring. She takes a moment to adjust to her surroundings, wincing at the bright sunlight. Looking around, her head slowly rises from her pillow as she grasped her forehead.

Somehow, the girl felt like she had just experienced a horrible dream. The contents of the dream however, she could not remember. Her ears ringing and her mind numb, she slowly gets off the comfort of the soft mattress beneath her, her legs welcoming the chill air of the air-conditioner with a shiver as her feet met the mahogany tiles.

She paused. Something didn't feel right. Looking at the calendar, a field of static obstructed her vision as she frowned. Nothing seemed unusual but...something just felt off.

What was she doing before she woke up? What happened last night before she went to bed? What was she supposed to do now? All those questions began to surface in my mind.

However, as if a switch went off, everything seemed to click into place. That's right. She had to prepare. She had to prepare to...go to school.


	2. Reliving the Past (Prologue)

_Where is the belfry? In that moment, gentle days end._

Opening her eyes, she blinks at the scene before her, realizing that she had already arrived in school. Somehow, it felt like she had arrived twice as early today.

She looks up at the sky, clear and cloudless, before her pupils direct toward her tiny wristwatch, the time being 7.30am. However, everything that happened before she got to school seemed hazy in her mind.

It was then that she was seized by a massive headache, followed by a wave of nausea that came with it. Clutching her head, she tries her best not to puke out the breakfast she had this morning before she left.

Now that she thought about it, what did she eat for breakfast this morning? In fact, what season was it? How did she wind up here anyway? All these questions left the girl severely confused, and the headache didn't seem to be subsiding anytime soon, buzzing like an alarm going off in her head.

Just the process of thinking at the moment could possibly make her faint and wind up back in bed again. It almost felt as if she had been embracing a rush of useless information for the past few days.

Taking in her surroundings, she sees the everyday hustle and bustle of the students as they pass the school gate, but not before they've been thoroughly checked by the student council. Indeed, nothing had changed. Everything was the same.

Her eyes land on a particular male with a black council uniform, seemingly appearing to be scolding a fellow student that he had just checked. Who was this man again?

As soon as the question came, so was the answer. _That's right. This man's name is Issei Ryuudo._ Walking forward, the girl tries to ignore the pain from the headache as her feet carry her towards Issei.

Upon noticing her presence, Issei pushes through the crowd greets her with a rather stiff smile. "Ah, good morning! Lovely weather we're having today, don't you think?" She blinks in response, not feeling the need to respond to him.

"Hmm? Why do you look so surprised? We announced at last week's assembly that this month the student council would strictly follow the school rules." Did she look surprised? The girl didn't know. All she knew was that her headache was worsening with each passing minute.

Issei continues to run through the spiel, as if this was the first time he had ever disclosed such information. She already knows what's going to happen, because it's happened more than once, because it's happened before.

Biting on her bottom lip, the girl clenches her fists. The headache was starting to make her dizzy that it's almost as if she's being forcibly logged out of her consciousness.

"First, let me check your student ID. I shouldn't need to remind you, but it should be on you at all times." Searching her pockets, the girl hands Issei her student ID with a grunt of displeasure. Everything was starting to seem so obvious now.

Issei hands her back her student ID, his expression almost unreadable at this point. "Great! There's no telling when an emergency might occur, and it will be helpful to have your student ID with you."

Somehow, the girl now knew that the nausea she felt earlier had nothing to do with what she ate this morning; she felt nauseous of the world around her. Everything was repeating itself over and over again, and that was making her sick.

"Now for the uniform inspection. Collar...check! Skirt hem...check! And your socks...check!" The girl doesn't even wait for Issei to finish before she pushes him out of the way roughly and continues to brisk-walk towards the school building. She wants this repetition to stop.

"Next is the contents of your bag. Notebooks, textbooks, pencilbox. Not even a whiff of contraband. Your nails are evenly cut, and your hairstyle is sensible. Indeed, quite remarkable. You're a model Tsukumihara Academy student." The girl could still hear Issei go on loudly like nothing fazes him, despite no one facing him.

The headache continues to remain, and the girl clutches her head with a frown as her body begins to shiver. All she's certain now is that this was not the school she knows of, and that she has to hurry and wake up before it's too late.

Making her way to the shoe lockers, she barely manages to change her shoes before she walks down the hallway filled with bland office-like walls, taking the staircase to her classroom.

It was then that she almost bumped into someone. Looking up, she sees a familiar woman with dark-brown hair in pigtails and sea-blue eyes wearing a skintight scarlet turtleneck and miniskirt with thigh high stockings. If she remembers right, this woman was Rin Tohsaka who had just transferred less than two weeks ago.

The woman stares back at her, frowning as if to say 'What's your problem?'. Blinking, the girl bows in apology before she continues to trod her way up the stairs, with the blue-eyed female watching her from behind.

The girl manages to make it up the last step before she hears a giggle. Turning her head, she sees a little girl in braids wearing a baby-blue dress with a frilly poofy skirt staring at her. Somehow, her stare alone was enough to irk her as the tiny girl waves at her shortly with a smile before skipping down the hall and disappearing.

She remains still, her mouth opening and closing in shock as she takes a moment to justify what had just occurred. Rubbing her eyes, she decides to leave the matter for later as she throws her bag over her shoulder and scurries towards her classroom.


	3. The Reason of Existence (Prologue)

The school hours droned on longer than usual, and as the bell signalling the end of last period rang, the girl stood up, feeling disoriented. Her headache had turned into a sharp piercing migraine, and her earlier anxiety had only worsened.

Looking around, she sees most of her classmates seemingly chatting amongst themselves in groups, while others head towards their respective clubs for the afternoon. Everything looked normal, but she could tell that something was definitely off, wanting nothing more than to desperately escape this bizarre situation.

Looking out the window, her view of the orange sunset is overlaid with some kind of unnatural distortion. She places a hand against her chest, taking slow breaths to ease her rising nausea.

 _Uneasiness._

 _Futility._

 _Emptiness._

Oh, how she wanted someone to explain to her the true nature of these feelings. Then, as if a light bulb flashed in her mind, she gasps with some renewed vigour; there must be a key somewhere, something that will have the answers to all her questions.

Rushing out of the classroom, she barely makes it down the hallway when she halts. Standing across her was a woman, presumably the same age as her. However, as the two met face to face, there was definitely something about the woman that she didn't like.

Perhaps it could be the way the woman eyed her intensely that made her feel mildy disturbed, or the seemingly sinister aura that this woman was emitting. Either way, she had a feeling that staying away from her was the best option.

With wavy purple hair and tanned skin, the woman adjusts her spectacles with her gloved fingers, giving her a cold, expressionless stare before she begins walking towards her.

The girl stiffens, not taking her eyes off the woman for even a second as she clenched her hands into fists to defend herself if need be. The woman quietly walks past her down the hallway, with the girl not daring to look behind her until she felt that it was safe to do so.

Turning her head, her shoulders gradually relax as she realized that the girl had already disappeared. Not missing a beat, she continues her way down the staircase towards the first floor. Somehow, she had a feeling that maybe...just maybe, there would be at least a clue down there to solve all her problems.

She had almost reached the last step when she felt the air getting strangely tense as her feeling of unease intensified. By instinct, the girl decided to hide, pressing her back against the wall as much as she could the moment she heard footsteps, like someone was approaching. She didn't know why, but every fiber of her being was yelling for her to keep herself hidden.

Steadying her breathing, she could feel the hammering of her heartbeat as she waited until she caught sight of a way too familiar boy with golden hair as bright as the sun itself clad in an orange uniform; Leonardo Bistario Harway, another new transfer student that arrived around the same time as Rin. The minute she laid her eyes on him, the girl feel intimidated and humiliated.

Thankfully, Leo continued to carry on walking down the hallway towards the other end, passing the staircase as she breathes out a sigh of relief internally. It was then that she also noticed a guy trailing behind Leo, realizing a second later that he was one of his classmates. She frowned; was he stalking Leo? The girl continues to watch her classmate until she was certain that he had left before she stepped out of her hiding place. Now that she thought about it, Leo wasn't the only anomaly that she had come across campus. There were other things that seemed...off as well.

It's becoming clearer now. There are people here who shouldn't exist. Students that mysteriously vanish. The fabric of reality is becoming unraveled.

 _What is the "truth"? What defines the world you know?_

 ** _Don't turn away now._**

 _There is a reason why you're here._

 _Come. Do not allow yourself to close your eyes to the truth._


	4. First Step Towards the Truth (Prologue)

Steeling her resolve, she decided to follow the two. Walking down the hallway, the girl gets distracted by the sound of someone yelling behind her. Turning her head, she sees Shinji Matou along with his younger sister, Sakura Matou.

It seemed like he was scolding her for something, but the girl wasn't close enough to hear. Nevermind that, she had to know where Leo and her classmate were going. Ignoring the ruckus, she continues to stride down the long hallway, seeing Leo just up ahead.

The girl manages to hide behind a pillar just as she sees Leo and her classmate halting at the end of the hallway by a corner. What were they doing there?

"The attention to detail is quite impressive. Even the surrounding air is surprisingly substantial. If that is the case, this world is in some ways more real than the world it represents," Leo begins, his back facing her classmate as he talked. "How about you guys? What are your thoughts on this?" he questions.

 _You guys?_ It felt as though Leo was including her in the question. Had he noticed her following him as well? However, before she could think any further, Leo turns and begins talking to my classmate, seemingly oblivious to her presence.

"Greetings. I believe that this is the first time we've had an actual conversation," Leo says, giving him a smile showing no hostility whatsoever. However, the girl had her suspicions that there was something malicious in that smile of his.

"Attending school wasn't half bad. I've never had the opportunity to go to one before now. In that respect, this has been quite an interesting experience. However, the time for fun has come to an end. I did not come here to play at being a student." Leo's smile fades, and is replaced with a rather more serious expression.

"...After all, no matter how enjoyable the detour, eventually one must return to their appointed path. And for me, the time to do so has arrived." The girl's frown deepens at his comment. What was he saying?

With those final words, Leo turns his back once again on her and her classmate. "Farewell. ...No, that's not it. I don't think farewell would be accurate in this situation. For reasons I cannot explain, I have the distinct feeling that we will see each other again. So I guess I should use the more cogenial, 'See you later'."

Without missing a beat, Leo walks closer towards the wall. "Well, it's time for me to move on. I wish you the best of luck." Leo said as much, even going so far as to look in her direction. For some inexplicable reason, the girl's not surprised that Leo knew she was spying on him.

The girl bites on her lower lip, trying to get things straightened out in her mind when she sees Leo walking straight into the wall, disappearing beyond it. No, the more accurate term to use was that he almost looked as if he "melted" into the wall. She lets out a gasp, before slapping a hand across her face when she realized that her classmate was still standing there.

The male student who was following him also proceeds to do the same a few seconds later, disappearing as he touched the same spot on the wall. At the same moment he disappears, her vision distorts greatly and the shock threatens to overwhelm her. What was going on here...?

The girl takes a few steps towards the wall, eyeing it with suspicion. Perhaps this place was the source of her unease. Like her classmate, she eventually walks over and places her hand on the wall, expecting to be drawn ina realization dawning on her that she now sees.

The atmosphere changes as the girl withdraws her hand, a doorway emerging over where the concrete wall used to be. In her mind, she knows that it is not something of this world. There's no doubt that this door leads to someplace unfathomable.

With no hesitation, she bids a silent farewell to the false world she was in, and takes her first step towards the truth that lies before her. Taking hold of the doorknob, she twists it and pushes the door open, eyes shutting as a ray of light attacks her.

There is a brief moment where her body is immobilized, and soon enough, the girl opens her eyes once again. Looking around, she sees that she had stumbled into a storage room, with boxes filled with cleaning supplies adorning the huge space.

It was then that her eyes were fixed onto a weird, metallic doll-like effigy placed near the supply lockers. She continues to stare at it curiously, walking towards to it to have a better look when she sees the effigy begin to twitch.

Gasping, she jumps back in surprise as the effigy comes alive, twisting its head before the effigy slowly walks towards her, acknowledging her as its owner. The girl remains still and silent, not really sure how to react.

Reaching out, she waves a hand in front of the effigy. The effigy remains unmoving, not even flinching. The girl frowns, looking around the room when she sees what appears to a dark hole up ahead. Was that the entrance to another world? If that were so, that the effigy should be her attendant, her sword and shield for what lies ahead.

Walking towards the dark hole, she glances back behind her. There was indeed no turning back now that she's come this far. At the very least, there may be some clues to this bizarre experience up ahead. Seeing that there was no other option but to head in with the strange doll as her only protection, the girl says a silent prayer before she walks into the dark hole.

As soon as her body passes through, she feels her feet touching what felt like hard, glass panels. There she lies, standing amidst a field of black in a completely different environment.

Looking back, she realizes that the hole had closed up behind her effigy. Taking a deep breath, she begins jogging forward, with the effigy following steadily behind her with each step. Guided by the glass panels beneath her, she continues on until she begins seeing swirls of data appear around her; she must be getting closer towards her destination.

Motivated, she increases her speed and runs ahead until she ends up in a sealed off environment, with blue walls of clear, glass panels enclosing around her. Not bothering to stop and rest, her feet continue to guide her forward until she sees a gap of white light ahead, leading her towards the exit as another bright ray of light covers her vision.


	5. Down the Rabbit Hole (Prologue)

The girl's eyes flutter open, taking a minute to adjust to her surroudings as her pupils darted back and forth in curiosity. Indeed, no longer a typical school campus, the floors and walls, the air and even the aura is slightly off. In fact, the prospect of a monster pouncing on her didn't seem too far-fetched; the area seemed very much like a dungeon after all.

"Welcome, potential master." With a shocking suddenness, a voice begins speaking. Blinking, the girl looks up, her eyes scanning around for the source of the voice. Strangely, it sounded as if the voice was speaking from the empty skies above.

"If you are looking for answers, you must first reach the goal. Now, please step forward and proceed." The voice goes silent after that simple instruction, and the female student begins pondering on what lies ahead as she begins jogging along the path ahead, with her effigy following close behind her.

She continues to jog along the given path until she reaches an open space. Her eyes almost immediately notice the strange item fixed in the center of the area. The item appeared to be a floating, transparent cube attached to the ground by a string of data. She eyes it with obvious curiosity, stepping forward to examine it in greater detail.

"The illuminated cube in front of you is called an item folder. Inside of it is a farewell item of sorts for those about to face the coming trial. Touch it and open it," the voice instructs, waiting for her to complete said action.

Bringing her hand towards the glowing cube, she pokes it with her index finger, pulling her hand back in mute surprise when the box magically opens to reveal a small, shiny crystal. Picking the crystal from the box, she holds it up to examine it carefully. As soon as she does so, a small window pops up underneath the item, showing the crystal's name and its properties.

"Ether crystal...so this is a healing item? I wonder when I'll be able to use this," she mutters out loud to no one in particular. Sensing her need to move on, she quietly stuffs the crystal into her pocket and continues forward.

It didn't take long before she sees a weird, dark blue, one-eyed spherical like robot floating in the air. Somehow, the robot gave off the feeling that she wouldn't be able to pass through so easily. Was this thing some kinda attack program?

"Before you is an enemy program. It is programmed to attack on sight. Approaching it will initiate a battle." The student's shoulders go tense at the voice's words. She has to fight this thing bare-handed?

Sensing her fear, the voice reassures her. "But you won't actually fight as you are too fragile. The effigy given to you will fight in your stead." Right, she had almost forgotten about her doll-like companion. Turning her head, she stares at the lifeless being standing behind her.

"Please keep in mind that if your effigy is ever destroyed in battle, you will no longer shield it from harm. To put it bluntly, you will die. So be very careful in battle." The girl's eyes go wide at the mention of dying, and her hands immediately clench into fists.

"But there's no need to be afraid...for now. Just do what I say and you'll be perfectly safe for the time being." Though the voice sounded calm, the girl questioned its use of words for motivation. If anything, the voice didn't seem very sure or convincing of her safety.

"First off, why don't I explain a little bit about the battles you will face?" The girl nods, and the voice begins its explaination.

"There are three basic commands you can issue in a battle for your effigy: Attack, Guard and Break. Each turn in battle is composed of six actions, and you'll need to tell your effigy what your strategy is to be," the voice starts off.

"Battles are again divided into several turns, with six commands being issued each turn. Once confirmed, they'll be executed by your effigy at once. The battle will end once either side defeats their respective opponent," the voice continues.

"The enemy before you should be quite easy to defeat as it will only perform 'Break'. The 'Break' command, which solely focuses on power, shouldn't be much of a problem against the 'Attack' command. Now, use the 'Attack' command to defeat the enemy program." The voice goes silent after those words, signalling the end of its explanation.

Though she's still slightly confused over the whole ordeal, she accepts the challenge nonetheless. Walking over, she eyes the one eyed robot carefully, determined to carry on. Upon getting closer towards it, the robot twitches and senses her presence, acknowledging her as an enemy.

A window pops up in the student's peripheral vision, showing six 'Break' commands already issued by the robot just as the voice had predicted. Before the robot could initiated any of its actions, she types in her commands, with her effigy running forward to initiate them.

With quick, precise blows, the effigy manages to knock the enemy program down, dealing an extra attack with every succesful three blows it manage to nail onto the enemy program before it fizzes and dissolves upon being defeated. The girl has the urge to pump her fist in the air, but chooses not to do so when she remembers that the owner of the voice may be watching through some hidden cameras and instead cheers internally.

"So...how did it go? As you've already founs out from the battle, you can overcome any 'Break' commands that your enemy issues with the 'Attack' command. One thing to keep in mind is that for each turn, you'll have to plan a series of six moves that will defeat your foe. ...The goal is still far ahead. If you must bask in the afterglory of your victory, do so while moving forward," the voice says, its tone laced with a hint of sarcasm. The girl doesn't try to argue back though, and instead obediently moves on further down the labyrinth.

She only manages to jog down a short lane before she comes across another attack program, looking the same as the previous one except that it was mint green in colour. Immediately, she goes on full alert.

"Oh look, here comes another program. You seem nervous. Perhaps you're anxious about fighting in another battle?" the voice taunts, earning a frown from the female student. Indeed, was it said wasn't exactly wrong but it wasn't the time to be teasing her anyway.

"Do not be alarmed. That enemy isn't strong enough to harm you as it is only programmed to use the 'Attack' command. While the 'Attack' command is a potent action, using the 'Guard' command will allow your effigy to defend itself before counterattacking. The 'Guard' command can be used to reduce the damage caused by an enemy attack as it blocks the attack before automatically dealing a devastating counter attack at the opponent, but I trust that you know this," the voice explains. Was it just her or did it sound like it was getting more and more sarcastic as time passed?

"...Now that you know how the battle will unfold, use the appropriate command to defeat the enemy program." Again, the voice goes silent, having finished its explanation. The girl, feeling slightly more confident after the last battle, steps forward just as the enemy program acknowledges her presence, typing in her commands.

Her effigy, responding to her commands, uses its arms to guard against the enemy program's blows before it counterattacks by kicking the enemy program. After a few blows, the enemy program is defeated. She was starting to get the hang of it now.

"Yes, that's exactly right. As you may have already noticed, performing three successful actions in a row will result in a 'chain' otherwise known as an 'extra' turn." While a little late on the explanation, she remains quiet and allows the voice to talk.

"By performing multiple chain attacks, your effigy will be able to perform a devastating follow-up attack on your opponent, which counts as a special additional attack. However, this can only be achieved through three successful actions and while doing multiple chain attacks in the heat of the battle may be difficult, the results make it worth the effort. Now, please proceed." The girl nods, having understood what the voice has been explaining so far.

She jogs down the narrow pathway and turns a corner before noticing yet another enemy program guarding the way up ahead, this time being yellow in colour. Stopping, she takes a moment to predict and decide which action the enemy program will take.

"You should be used to the fundamentals of battle at this point, but I'll walk you through this one last time." One last time? Does this mean that she'll be on her own for the next few battles to come?

"This particular enemy program will only use the 'Guard' command and will do nothing in battle but defend itself against harm. But no matter how stout one's defense may be, it will be naught against the 'Break' command. As such, you can shatter the enemy's defense by using the 'Break' command. Remember, always use the appropriate command for any given situation."

After determining the end of its walkthrough, she walks forward, already typing in the commands as her effigy charges towards the enemy program, taking a stance before it jumps in the air and kicks the enemy program. It continues to repeatedly do so until the enemy program is once again defeated.

"...You have been through three battles and have learnt to use the 'Attack', 'Break' and 'Guard' commands. Someone has intuitive and observant as you must've already noticed this, each of the three commands balances each other out, creating a situation where they have immutable relationships and that no attack is dominant." The girl nods, having alreasy noticed that little detail through the three battles she had just went through.

"What I just covered is the absolute basics of battle and the minimum info you'll need to know. Once you master the basics, all that's left to test yourself in battle and gain valuable experience. Now, please proceed." Following the voice's instructions, the girl swiftly jogs down the path ahead of her, wondering what other trials await ahead.

She continues her all too familiar exercise until her eyes pick up a red sphere from a distance. Halting, she eyes the enemy program cautiously. Although the past three battles have been fairly easy, she couldn't possibly let her guard down.

"All the enemy programs that you've faced so far only used one specific command, which obviously won't happen in a real fight. Like you, your enemies will choose their own actions based on the situation and general observation. Their actions will be very difficult for you to predict at first." Well, at least the voice didn't try to sugarcoat any details.

"As you face the same enemy multiple times, you will be able to read their tendencies and patterns accurately. ...Although considering your lack of fighting experience, I may be expecting far too much from you. But anyway, please try your best." While she didn't particularly want to complain or argue nor was she competitive when it came to stuff like this, there was a small part of her that wanted to prove the voice wrong, especially after hearing its last two comments.

Striding forward, the girl prepares for combat, checking her window to see that the enemy program had three of its actions concealed. However, with quick analysis, it didn't take long for her to figure out a pattern as she typed in her commands. Her effigy takes a stance in front of the program, charging in to initiate the commands of its owner.

A few hits later, and the effigy manages to strike its foe down. "...Good job. Alright then, please proceed to the final room." _Final room?_ That means that her destination is almost within arm's reach. With renewed determination, the girl begins running down the pathway, soon being enveloped by the familiar swirls of data before a flash of light interrupts her train of thought, carrying her body out of the bizarre labyrinth.


	6. The Final Room (Prologue)

She arrives, slowly walking into the room. What she sees are three large painted glass windows in front of the round, stretched out marble floor.

At last, she's made it to the end of the long road, after going through a door that suddenly appeared in the wall. However, instead of relief, fear begins to cloud in her mind. She can practically feel the oppressive air of this place where the spirits of the dead still linger. This is her goal.

She walks to the center of the room, looking around her. All she sees in a curtain of black, with only the round floral carvings of the floor and the three glass windows being illuminated. She frowns, now unsure of what to do.

Further in, she notices that someone had collapsed, the person's body lying still on the ground. Upon examining him, she realizes that she was staring into the face of the student that was tailing Leo.

Calling out to him, she bents down and grabs him by the shoulder, shaking him gently in an attempt to wake him up when she notices- he is stone cold, showing no sign of life in him. Gasping, she immediately withdraws her hand and backs away.

Her eyes go wide as she turned as pale as the corpse before her. She can no longer think coherently, her mind going blank as she stared back at the unmoving body in bewilderment, not even a rise or fall of the chest to indicate that he was still breathing.

It was at this moment that she noticed something twitching next to the body. The fallen effigy next to the male student comes to its feet with a clatter, twisting its head towards her menacingly. After fighting several enemy programs to get here, it was obvious that this thing was an enemy too. The girl rises to her feet, her effigy already positioned in front of her.

Without warning, the fallen effigy suddenly twists its body around and comes charging at her, attacking her effigy by punching it in the face. Her effigy is thrown back by a few feet, looking disoriented as the girl tries to get her head together, opening the window to input her commands.

In horror, she sees that there is no actions inputed by the enemy. She makes a hasty glance at the two dolls, with her own slowly being cornered. Was the fallen effigy fighting by its own will?

Biting her finger, she tries to analyze the enemy's movements, but the effigy was too fast for her to make a predicament. Meanwhile, her effigy had already lost an arm, and looked to be putting up a pathetic struggle.

Looking at her window, she inputs a few commands, taking out her ether crystal as she fed it to her effigy and initiated it to follow her commands, praying for the best. The effigy immediately gets into a stance as it begins fighting the enemy effigy.

However, it seemed as if the enemy could predict all of her effigy's movements. Striking her effigy down, the enemy effigy proceeds to tear apart her effigy before it could rise back up again.

Within seconds, her effigy was already beginning to fizzle and fade away. All alarms were going off in her head as her backed away from the enemy effigy as much as she could as she recalled what the voice had warned her back inside the labyrinth. _"Please keep in mind that if your effigy is ever destroyed in battle, you will no longer be able to shield yourself from harm. To put it bluntly, you will die."_

The enemy effigy turns, acknowledging the female student as its next victim. Dashing towards her, the girl didn't even have time to react before she could feel its metallic arm piercing through her torso. Her eyes go as wide as saucers as her mouth opens in mute shock. Mercilessly, the enemy effigy withdraws its arm, tearing a hole through her torso as she collapses onto the cold, hard ground.

She feels an indescribable pain tear through her body. She wants to yell, she wants to scream, she wants to howl out in pain, yet she finds that she is unable to do so, her body lying flat like a beached whale. "...Hmph, you seem to be lacking as well."

...She can hear the sound of a distant voice. "The time has come. With your inevitable loss, I will consider this round of preliminaries to be over. Farewell. I pray that you find peace in your annihilation." That is the voice's final words to her.

She doesn't even have the power to protest. All she can do is stare at the floor. She vision blurs as her body slowly turns cold, her breathing get slowly with each passing second. Panic rises in her, the girl gradually finding it harder to see and to breathe. Is she...going to die here?

Suddenly, at the edge of her now hazy vision, a number of grey coloured lumps seem to rise from the ground. Actually, it might be that she had just noticed them now; they may have been there from the beginning for all she knew. After all, those grey lumps are the bodies of an untold number of fallen Tsukumihara Academy students.

Despite the pain that threatens to swallow her whole, she manages to glance towards the classmate that had fallen. He wasn't the only one to fall. All the others who made it here also died, unable to do anything. And in a very short while, she'll become one of them as well.

Her breathing becoming shallow and soft, the girl beginning to surrender to her fate. Maybe it's best that she just closes her eyes there and then. She did all she could, so maybe it'll be better for it to end now. Her vision blackens for a few brief seconds, signalling her call of death.

...No, she couldn't give up here. She couldn't give up here in this dark place after coming so far. _She refused to give up._ Gritting her teeth, she summons all the strength she had in an attempt to get back on her feet.

However, as she tries to move, an familiar yet unbearably intense pain shooting through her entire body. She opens her mouth to scream, yet finds her voice caught in her throat. If that was how it was going to be...no...if this is...

Remnants of a flashback appear in her mind; she had suffered through this pain before, meeting her own demise. However, unlike last time, she wasn't going to let the pain devour her.

...That's right. She couldn't possibly give up now. Even if she's forced to concede defeat eventually, it would be unforgivable to do so now.

In that moment, she feels as if something was wrong. All her senses grow faint. By then, the pain running through her body has long passed its ability to endure it. She now knows what the damned suffer.

 _Even so, she must stand._

The drive to go on is something even she doesn't understand. It wasn't as if the fear of death was urging her not to give up. In fact, she just wanted to be at peace. Keeping that in mind, why was she trying with all her might to get back on her feet?

She couldn't figure out the reason why. She doesn't know why her life needs to be ended here. Why was she...?

Her vision distorts once again, a realization clearing her previously clouded mind. She understands now, that must be the reason why. Pressing her hands against the floor, she forces her body to slowly get up, rejecting the thought of passing onto the afterlife.

There were those many corpses. There were those many questions. Now, she can't continue without knowing. No, now that her spirit has been awakened, she could not allow things to come to an end without knowing...!

"...Hmm...as a representative of the holy grail, I can hardly ignore such overpowering doubt." The girl looks up defiantly, glaring back at the owner of the voice above her. "You question your own existence even as it comes to an end, and see your own shortcomings as death approaches. Very well, I expect much from that spirit of yours. There's a servant left that fits a human like you."

A servant? What did it...? "A nondescript Legendary Soul fighting for a nameless master. I look forward to your valiant efforts in battle."

The sound of breaking glass is accompanied by a light cutting through the gloom, the room blaring to life with colour. The girl manages to move her weary body and aching head to see what's happening, seeing that two of the large glass windows had shattered, leaving one in the center. What was going on...?

It was then that the female student noticed something slowly rising in the middle of the room through a disc of light emerging from the red magic circle that appeared on the floor. Her eyes go wide as a man appears, his back turned to her. From the looks of it, the man was impressively tall by almost more than six feet and had a well built body, his skin being tanned and having snow white hair, dressed in crimson.

The appearance itself isn't much different from that of a human being, but something was diferent...clearly so. The power emanating from him transcended that of any human, or of any human she's faced before getting here. An awesome power that seems as if it'd vaporize anyone swirls within her body against her will.

"Man, this sucks. I was praying that I wouldn't be summoned but I can see that my hope was misplaced. Showing self-restraint is difficult, regardless of one's age. I guess I'll just flounder around pointlessly," the man before her grumbles, clicking his tongue in displeasure.

"I came here in response to a voice calling for me. Now then, what kind of moron would needlessly call for a servant like me?" The guy turns, twisting his head to reveal his face as his copper-grey eyes met her chocolate brown ones.

The girl doesn't say anything in response, her mouth agape in awe of the man standing before her. She didn't know why he came, but something in her clicked in that moment.

Yes, as fate would have it, it was at that moment that their meeting would change her life forever.


	7. The Holy Grail War (Prologue)

The girl continues to stare at the man, obviously dumbstruck by his sudden appearance. "... ***Sigh*** It pains me to acknowledge it, but since you're the only one here..." He takes a moment to massage the temples of his forehead, clearly distressed.

"...Let me ask, just to be sure: Are you my master?" Seeing how she continued to stare at him in silence, he raises an eyebrow as if to say, 'What? Cat got your tongue?' The girl blinks, now shaken out of her daze as she replies in a soft but certain voice. "...Yes."

"I see. It's not like I get a say, but it seems as if I've been called by yet another odd master. I should be used to it by now. But a contract is a contract. I'll lend you my power if you want and will fight for you until your wish ends." The girl doesn't respond to his snarky comment, but instead continues to stare at him.

"You were just shouting "why?" a moment ago. There are very few people who know the answer to that question. Well, it's not a bad wish, per se. I now pledge to fight by your side until your wish ceases to be." Walking over, he takes ahold of her hand and helps her to her feet. From the hand he had grabbed comes a sudden warmth...and then a sharp pain, like she's been cut with a searing hot knife.

Hissing in pain, she takes a step back, grasping her hand tightly as she struggled to blink back tears. On the back of her hand, as if tattooed, is a strange red symbol that looks like some kind of crest. Totally confused, she alternates between staring at the mark on her hand and the person standing before her. "What...?"

A noise behind her brings her back to her senses, snapping her back towards reality. Turning around, she sees that the effigy from before is still there, now in a fighting stance. Her eyes go wide once again, wincing uncontrollably as she recalled her previous defeat at its hands.

The man standing behind her however, seems anything but afraid as he walks over, standing in front of her as if acting as a shield. "This seems to be as good an opportunity as any for you to show me your skills as my master." Sensing that she was unconvinced by his statement, he sighs once again and shakes his head.

"Really, it's nothing to get worked up over. I'm not going to be at my best with a novice master though. Well, whatever. I'm used to getting the short end of the stick. Just show me as much of your power as you can!" Stretching his arms, he summons a pair of twin swords, one black as night and the other a gleaming white.

Before she could consider what was occurring around her, the effigy rushes in, about to take off the man's head. He quickly ducks and nails a heavy blow towards the effigy's shoulder, knocking it back towards the floor. The effigy quickly gets back up, stumbling slightly and clearly disoriented by the man's powerful strike.

Charging towards him, the effigy jumps into the air and attempts to kick the man, but instead misses as the man grabs it by the leg, flinging it across the room after nailing another blow. The effigy, nonetheless resilient, gets back and dashes towards him once again, determined to finish his opponent off.

The effigy swings its arm towards him, making it seem as though he was about to punch the man in the face. Out of the corner of her eye, she sees the effigy's other arm slowly closing in towards his torso. "...! Watch out!"

Hearing her call, the man's eyes widen briefly before he kicks the effigy away. Dashing towards it, the man cuts off the effigy's limbs with one foul swing of his swords before he summons what appeared to be a slender long black bow, dealing the final blow as he shot a few arrows at it. The battered effigy crashes onto the floor, no longer moving after being effectively torn apart as it fizzles and begins fading away, having been defeated.

The man stares at the spot where the effigy use to be before he turns to meet her gaze, his eyes portraying slight disappointment in them. "I guess I can give you a passing grade...barely. I expect more from you in the future."

He continues to talk. ...However, the sound of his voice doesn't quite reach her ears. The heat from the mark on my hand grew in intensity during the fight and the resulting pain, coupling in with the the pain from her earlier wound in her torso has become unbearable, burning through her consciousness.

"The mark imprinted on your hand is your Command Seals. It is proof that you hold dominion over a servant. You can use it to give three orders to your servant that nust be obeyed. Think of them as disposable strengthening spells. It is also proof of your participation in the Holy Grail War. If you lose them for some reason, you will die." Once again, she hears the voice speaking. Gripping her hand, she somehow manages to ignore the pain, looking up to listen to what it says.

"I can understand your confusion. But before I forget...congratulations. You have endured much to make it here. Now rest for a while; you've achieved your first goal." So does that mean that she's cleared the trial?

"It was an incredibly clumsy effort to say the least, but that's what made it all the more entertaining. I've had this duty for a long time, but this the first time I've seen a master as helpless as you. Nevertheless, be proud of your achievement. Your quick thinking came as a result of nerves and rashness." Her eyebrows twitch in response to his half-hearted compliments.

Now that she thought about it, the voice sounded like that of a thirty year old man. And it's really irritatingly smug. For some reason, she could picture the owner of the voice as a priest, dressed in a somber cassock.

"Oh, so you are curious about my identity? I am honoured, but I am insignificant. I am merely part of the system. I am just a guide, tasked with giving a standard message and given the personality of a prior participant. I am no more than words, no more than the mountain you've just conquered, no more than a record of the past," the voice explains in a rather amused tone.

The girl tilts her head to the side in response to his explanation. Would that mean that if she decided to raise her objections against this voice, she wouldn't receive any answers in return?

"Exactly. ...Well, this is unexpected. You have received a commendation. Something about you 'having a light' ." She raises her eyebrows in pleasant surprise. She had no clue as to who would say such a thing about her. But that short phrase alone struck her heart, because she knew that they were sincere. As for the "I expect good things from you", it sounded more like a command than an encouragement.

"Now, let us commence your baptism. You have proven yourself worthy of the honour. For most, the monotony of everyday life continues on without end. Your decision to look beyond the accepted and progress means that you have earned the right to exist. However, you have taken but the first step. Be jubilant, young knight, for the Holy Grail begins now!" the voice declares in a booming voice.

The female student was getting more and more confused by the second. She had no idea what the voice was talking about. Holy Grail War...? The right to exist...?

"That's right. An object of great power once existed in the world. One that could grant any desire. People called it the 'Holy Grail' and fought endlessly in an attempt to gain sole possession of it. This war- the system you find yourself in now is an evolution of those struggles. You stand at the entrance of a deadly struggle where many magi will will perish in pursuit of the Holy Grail," the voice explains. Though the girl had a ton if questions swarming her mind, she chose to remain silent and allow the voice to elaborate.

" Listen, magi. Had I not bestowed upon the earth desire, you'd be merely saints capable of committing sin. Now, fight to the death. The throne of heaven will only receive those with the strongest desires," the voice reverberates throughout the hidden chapel, as if it were the voice of a god. Kill...? Magi...? Holy Grail that grants wishes...? These questions continue to swirl inside her head, carving themselves into her very flesh.

"In war, a weapon is needed. That is your servant, they're the spear that pierces, the shield that protects. A Legendary Soul whose purpose is to clear your way to the grail. That is the one who stands beside you." This prompts the girl to glance over at the tall man dressed in red standing next to her, who glances at her before looking away. So he's her servant...

"It seems you have decided, and with that decision as payment, I now open the gates to the Holy Grail War." The marks on her hand, once again begin to feel excruciatingly painful. She can feel her legs wobbling beneath her, her vision blurring. It's over, she can't take it anymore.

The girl reaches the limits of her endurance as her mind begins to shut down. Without warning, her body crashes onto the ground once again with a loud thump. As she begins to lose consciousness, she had vaguely hear the voice speaking.

"Now, let the Holy Grail War begin. No matter the era, deciding who is worthy through battle is the divine providence of man. Magi who have been invited here by the Moon, show me your true strength." Her mind feels fuzzy and through her peripheral vision, she sees someone hovering over her. Her eyes close as she accepted the welcoming darkness.

And so, the girl sleeps, recalling nothing but the warm feeling someone carrying her in their arms.


	8. First awakening

_The mire of everyday sloughs off._

 _A war between magi._

 _The wheel of fate turns._

 _Weak one, temper your sword,_

 _And defend the value of your life._

 **010101010101010101010101010101010**

 _1st week- The First Selection_

 _Combatants Remaini_ _ng-128_

 **0** **10101010101010101010101010101010**

 _The sky burns._

 _Houses collapse into ruin._

 _People fall to the ground._

 _Roads come to an end._

 _The conflict started here._

 _With this, the world that is will be restored._

 _It is here that "I" alone had survived._

 _Don't remember/ **Never forget.**_

 _Oblivion is salvation and sin._

 _"I" was born from perdition._

 _This must be a nightmare._

 _This had to be somewhere;_

 _This could be anywhere,_

 _these events that occured in the true memories of childhood._

 _A torrent of blood flows, a voice resonating with bitter resentment can be heard._

 _Lives fade away without a thought. Friends, family, strangers: All gone._

 _Soldiers with guns, families trying to hold together, a grotesque struggle to the end, until a gentle peace descends as death comes to claim them._

 _I could not accept all I have seen. The question of "why?" never left me._

 _Even with the divide between conflict and catastrophe, why did such a tragedy occur?_

 _No, more importantly- Why has this world been turned a hell on Earth?_

 _...A gentle rain begins to fall. All things once living fade away, leaving only one behind._

 _Amidst the helplessness and despair, their soul's last feelings are of rage and regret._

 _The rain wets their cheeks as their eyes close one last time, dying forgotten and alone._

 _Seeing this, I struggle to rise from the depths of death. I will not accept what I have been shown._

 _If I can live again, I will definitely-_

 _But there are no second chances. And before long, the rain has cleansed the scorched Earth._

 _Never forget._

 _"I" was born from perdition._

 _What that means-_

 _Somehow, please don't forget it._

 **010101010101010101010101010101010**

The girl awakes, her eyes seized with a field of orange sparks lighting the night sky. She looks up weakly, black smoke curling its way to the horizon above, blocking her view of the stars.

She coughs, struggling to breathe as her lungs were practically begging for oxygen. She felt so tired, her body heavy and numb.

In an attempt to get up, a scream erupts from her throat as she felt a burning sensation tear through her left leg. It hurts, it hurts so much. Never in the years she loved had she felt such pain. She grits her teeth, tears lacing the edge of her eyelids.

Looking down, she sees a large piece of concrete on top of her leg. Pressing her hands on it, she tries to push it away. Her hands rub raw against the rough object, scratching her palms and fingers. Nonetheless, with much effort, the concrete eventually begins moving away from her leg to the side.

Examining her bleeding, wounded leg, she can definitely tell that it had seen better days. Tearing her sleeve off, she wraps the cloth around the injured area to somewhat stop the bleeding.

Standing up, she looks around her. All she could see were destroyed buildings amongst mountains of rubble, with blood painted the landscape. Covering her nose, she tries not to inhale the smoke around her as begins walking.

Slowly stumbling across the debris, she clumsily attempts to maneuver her way across despite the pain she was constantly feeling in her leg. The earth beneath her feet was blazing hot to a point where walking with shoes on didn't feel any different than going barefoot.

All around her she heard voices, voices of anguish and sorrow, voices that were beginning to fall silent. Stopping, her eyes widened at the countless bodies littering the vicinity. Her eyes are fixed on a middle-aged woman on the ground in a pool of blood, holding on to what appeared to be her child in her arms, both of them unmoving.

Gasping, she covers her mouth in horror and turns away, feeling a disgusting, tangy taste begin to well up in her mouth from her throat. One thing was clear; she had to get away from this place as soon as she could.

With fear and anxiety slowly building up inside of her, she begins to trudge ahead, trying her best to ignore the many corpses she came across as she covered her ears to block out the cries and pleas she heard, biting down on her lower lip in guilt.

At last, the woman's legs give out, wobbling beneath her as she trips over a broken wooden plank, falling on her knees as they painfully scrapped against the ground. She suppresses the urge to scream once again, mustering the strength to try and get up again. Alas, her body was against her will, and her vision begins to blur.

Falling to the ground, she no longer has the power to carry on. With the tears now streaming freely down her cheeks, the girl stretches a hand out and begins to whimper and sob helplessly, crying out for help.

After several minutes, her cries die down, the girl realizing that her efforts were in vain. She lies there, hopeless and in utter despair.

Tired, she felt so tired. Her consciousness was slipping away fast, and soon enough, she closed her eyes, giving in to the exhaustion.

 **010101010101010101010101010101010**

The girl's eyes gently flutter open, awakening to the sound of birds chirping amd leaves rustling. Her pupils come in contact with a familiar looking ceiling above her, and she blinks, mildly confused. Exhaling, she takes a moment to relax her tensed shoulders. It seems as though she saw some kind of twisted, distorted dream.

The girl continues to lie in bed, the comfortable mattress tempting her to fall back alseep. Staring blankly at the ceiling, she slowly looks around, her eyes scanning the area and finally settling on the window to her left which was slightly ajar.

After a while, she came to a conclusion that she was in the nurse's office, and that she must've collapsed and was brought here. Her eyebrows knit together in a frown. Did that mean...that world, the effigy that blocked her way, and that servant...was all just a dream?

Her thoughts briefly flash back towards the man that saved her life back then. It seemed too real to be a dream...then again, it might just be her overthinking things.

Sitting up, the girl takes a few seconds to adjust her body. Strangely enough, as soon as she got up, she could tell that something felt really off. She narrows her eyes, pressing a hand against her forehead in thought. No, this nurse's office was far different than the one she knew. It's similar in some ways, but off...somehow...

"Jeez, it took you long enough to wake up. You've been taking it pretty easy, I see." Before she could ponder on any longer, a voice shakes her out of her train of thought. Eyes widening, she turns her head just as a man materializes next to the side of her bed.

The girl lets out a tiny squeak of surprise, backing away slightly with her hands already balled into fists to defend herself. As soon as her eyes met his, she could feel her stiff body going slack. "Y-You're..."

He smirks, placing a hand on his hip while shaking his head. "What a way to react, especially after I've just saved your life. Or have you already forgotten?" His copper grey eyes pierce through hers, and the girl finds herself looking down at the floor in mild embarassment.

The man who appeared by the side of her bed, dressed in a crimson garb was none other than the one she met back inside the final room who left an indelible inpression...meaning that since he's standing here now, she was not dreaming.

"So, is everything ok with you? Tell me if you feel pain anywhere. As the Holy Grail War has begun, monitoring my master's condition is now a necessity," he asks, earning a few shakes of the head from her.

"I see. Before I go on, you did enter the Holy Grail War knowing what you were getting into, right? Because you've been staring at me like a deer in headlights." The girl's expression softens to a blank stare. "Holy...Grail War?" Sure, she had heard the voice mentioning it a couple of times, but she didn't exactly know what it was.

Now it was the guy's turn to look shocked. "Please tell me you're kidding. You entered the Holy Grail War without even knowing what it is?" Somehow, the girl felt kind of guilty and wanted to apologize for her cluelessness, but it wasn't like she had any excuse to say that she actually knew what this whole war was.

She remains silent, gripping the edges of the bed's sheets, giving a clear answer to his question. The man sighs, placing a hand to his forehead in irritation. "...Staying silent huh? Until now, the thought of a clueless master never occurred to me," he says slowly, his voice laced in annoyance.

The girl's eyebrows twitch for the brief second, wanting to retort back to him but choosing her freedom of staying quiet as to not anger both herself and him as well.

"...Oh well, as our contract is official, verbally abusing you isn't going to help matters anyway. All right, perhaps I should start at the beginning and explain what the Holy Grail War is?" Accepting his half-hearted apology with a pinch of salt, the girl raises a question of her own.

"The Holy Grail...you can't mean THAT Holy Grail, right? The basis of an entire body of Western religious history and is said to perform miracles?" The guy smirks as if to say 'Wow, so you at least know something about it' before he begins explaining.

"That's right. In addition, while the Holy Grail here is of dubious authenticity, it can grant wishes. Its form varies, being once a cup and a tree and even taking on the form of a human being. Cutting to the chase, in this place, anything that grants wishes is considered a Holy Grail." The girl is taken aback by the sudden information. Never in her life did she need to ponder on about something so unreal as the Holy Grail's existence.

"Many moons ago, magi from all over created a framework in which they fought for the Holy Grail. They called it the Holy Grail War. Its rules were, and still are very simple: Kill or be killed." The girl' body tenses once again at the mention of the word 'kill'. The whole war sounded like a merciless fight for survival.

Trying not to think too much about it, she draws her attention towards the other detail mentioned. If magi were the ones that fought for the Holy Grail, does that mean that she's considered as a magus as well?

The man nods before continuing. "Seven people fighting for one prize- considering what was at stake, violence was only natural. While there's no bloodier conflict, its structure has been aped many times. In fact, this world's Holy Grail War is just another copy. Although there ars some differences..." For a moment the man almost thought that he recalled a woman with blonde hair wielding a sword...and had a montrous appetite, but quickly brushed it off as he went on.

"For example, the rules. Servants and magi fight together and the loser forfeits their command seals." This prompts the girl to look down at her left hand, where she had been marked three strange symbols. If sge recalled, these were supposed to act as a sign of her pact between her and her servant.

"These duels go on until the last remaining master stands to receive the Holy Grail. Once you're in, the only way out is to win or die. Easy enough to understand, right?" The girl sweatdrops, doubting that it was that simple. While she had a million questions, at least she knew the basics now. Whether she wants to be here or not, she's now a participant of this Holy Grail War nonsense.


	9. Arrival of the Answer?

"So now you understand what's at stake...I hope. Well, at least you know what to expect, more or less. So...moving on, do you know what a servant is?" Servant...though the girl did know that servants were supposed to fight for their masters, she didn't exactly know what they were or the roles they served other than to protect and exchange blows with enemies.

"Servants are...familiars like you who...fight under their master's orders?" She finally replies after a moment of thinking. "Well, you nailed at least the very basics of it...but my question was towards whether you actually know in detail about whom servants are in the Holy Grail War other than meat shields and a means of attacking enemies." The girl laughs sheepishly, scratching the back of her head. "Uh...sorry, but I don't have a clue."

Again the man sighs, clearly trying not to get irritated. "...Is that so? Then let me give you an explanation about what a servant actually is. Servants are recreations of Legendary Souls called to fight in the Holy Grail War," he begins. Legendary Souls...the voice did mention the term but...what exactly are they?

"Only people whose name and deeds that have survived the millenium become Legendary Souls. Those people are reproduced here as servants. Though some are more infamous than legendary..." So basically, servants are well-known heroes in spirit form...called upon to fight in their master's stead. Somehow, the girl had a hard time processing that she was now conversing normally with this man who was actually a hero.

"...As per the rules of the Holy Grail War, the servants are divided into seven classes, the first three being the knight classes and the remaining four being the cavalry classes. Saber: a class of heroes categorized for using mainly swords, and have high balanced stats such as magic resistance when compared to the other six classes. Lancer: a group of warriors who wield lances or spears and are very nimble and agile in fighting, possessing incredible speed which allow them to attack and quickly corner their opponents. Archer: a class of heroes who as the name suggests, specialize in the use of bows and arrows or flying projectiles, though a variety of them can also use swords or other weapons for close combat. This class also has a skill otherwise known as 'Independent Action', in which they can move about and act even without their master's consent." The three knight classes...though the class names are a little odd, the descriptions seem pretty easy to understand.

"Rider: heroes who use and mount vehicles such as chariots or mythical creatures such as a pegasus in battle, and their 'Riding' skills far surpassing Sabers who possess the same skill. Caster: heroes who possess high amounts of mana to draw on with a wide access to spells which mostly cover a wide area, the class also possessing a unique skill otherwise known as 'Territory Creation'. Assassin: a class of heroes who specialize in silent, quick elimination of their opponents, and they possess the unique skill of 'Presence concealment' in which they can mask their presence and kill off their enemies without them even noticing. Finally, Berserker: a class whose raw damage output exceeds even the Saber class due to these heroes possessing the unique skill otherwise known as 'Madness Enhancement' in which they trade their sanity for power, that being that the higher the rank in said skill, the stronger they are. As you may already know from these descriptions, each class has its own specialty."

The girls nods, taking into account the different fighting styles and skills of each class...which brings her to another question of which class her servant belonged to. Glancing at him, she does a quick assumption that he may be from the Archer class. Though he does seem like a Saber at first, she noticed back in the final room that his fighting style didn't revolve entirely on him fighting close-range...and she recalled him even using a bow and arrows against that effigy.

"...? My class? I'm an Archer, and just as I mentioned earlier, I excel in the use of bows." An archer...so she was right. Though his personality was kind of grating, she can't fault his abilities as a servant. Wait...if all servants are Legendary Souls, then who this man in real life back when he was still alive?

"My true name? I don't remember it." His rather blunt answer left her mouth agape, obviously not convinced. "...Sorry, I couldn't resist. Not all Legendary Souls are legendary. You probably wouldn't know it even if I told you. For the time being, my abilities are far more important than my true name." He did have a point...but without a name, how exactly should she address him?

"You can just address me by my class name. Most masters do that as to not give away their servant's identity. So call me Archer. That, and I do not see the point in revealing my true name in all of this." The man stands firm with his statement, and girl doubted that she wanted to start an argument with him even if she was clearly his master.

"By the way, regarding the matter of names, what shall I address you as?" His question brings to her a realization that ever since their meeting, she hasn't told him her name much less give a proper introduction. " _I'm...Hakuno Kishinami._ But you can address me as you like," she replies, giving him a small smile.

"Hakuno Kishinami...," the name mutters her name as if not to forget it, while at the same time he seemed to be deep in thought, almost as if recalling a past memory. "...On second thought, I think I'll address you as 'Master'. Having to call you by your own name seems strange for me. Surely you have no objections?" Though she actually didn't mind him just calling her by her name, she did say that he could call her whatever he liked. Nodding in reply, she answers back with a curt, "Sure".

The man nods back at her, and without another word, disappears into the ether. However, she can definitely feel his presence nearby. Was it due to the command seals that symbolized their contract as master and servant? Anyhow, he must be staying out of sight when he's not needed as his identity won't be compromised. As for how his identity could be guessed just from his appearance is beyond her. The girl now stares back at the empty space where he stood just a few seconds ago, a sigh escaping her lips as she rises from the bed just as she heard the sound of the door sliding open.

Turning her head, she sees a girl roughly her age or a year younger, a stark white lab coat worn over her school uniform with long purple hair that almost reached her ankles and matching irises. She recognizes her as the school's nurse, Sakura Matou, standing by the doorway holding what appeared to be a bag full of medical supplies. As soon as their eyes met, Sakura smiles warmly.

"Ah, Kishinami-san. You're finally awake? I'm so relieved." Setting the bag of medical supplies on a nearby table, she walks over to examine the girl, checking for any injuries. "Hmm...you don't see to have any injuries...and your wound from the preliminaries has already healed, so feel free to leave when you feel like it. Also, all your memories have been restored by the SE.RA.PH, so do not worry. Any magi that seek the Holy Grail have their memories suppressed and are given those of a student. Only masters that manage to recover themselves and have passed the preliminaries are allowed to enter the main tournament. Now that you have regained your memories, please review them to make sure that they're complete," Sakura speaks, her way of speaking sounding strangely robotic and not very life-like.

Hakuno blinks, taking a moment to process what Sakura had just said. ...Regained her memories? She tries thinking of everything that happened before the whole incident in that fake school as well as during the preliminary round but...nothing comes to mind.

Who were her parents? When was she born? What was her childhood like? How exactly did she live up her life until now? All these questions begin surfacing, but no answers appeared. The girl panics, fear once again beginning to grip her heart.

That's not right. Apart from her name, she couldn't recall anything from her past.

She realized that everyone around her was forced to believe that they were normal students. However, no matter how hard she forced her brain to work, she could not remember to her before then. Trying not to have a mental breakdown at the crisis she was now facing, the girl slowly delivers the horrible truth in a hushed, quivering voice, "...I...I can't remember anything."

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

How ironic it was that he was summoned once again into the Holy Grail War, and by a female magus no less. Truly, Archer thought that his luck couldn't have been worse the minute he found himself standing in a dimly-lit room, looking at his new master who was lying on the ground.

Truth be told, he didn't have the best impression of her when he was summoned. The girl looked rather weak and incapable, not to mention that she practically summoned him on a whim. Standing by the side of the bed, the tanned man stares at his unconscious master; apparently, the girl had fainted back inside the final room. Well, in all fairness, the guy couldn't blame her. After all, anyone normal could've collapsed in that given situation, especially if that person had a gaping hole in their torso. In fact, if anything, the man had to applaud her resilience in lasting that long with such a wound.

Examining his master in further detail, she looked inhuman, almost lifeless while she slept, with the slow rise and fall of her chest as well as her soft breathing the only indication that she was indeed alive. With skin almost as fair as porcelain and long, silky eyelashes and hair, one would almost mistake her for a doll than an actual human being.

It was only when she woke up that Archer got to know his master better. For one, she had no idea what she was getting into much less what a servant...which was a great start. Archer found himself sighing a lot today, and he probablg knew the reason why.

While explaining to her about the Holy Grail War and servants were as well as answering her questions every now and then, Archer found one thing puzzling about her. Indeed, while she did seem rather normal at first, something struck to him as...odd.

It was after encountering Sakura that the man began to understood why he found this girl to act so strange when she delivered a mind-blowing statement: "I...I can't remember anything." In that brief moment, Archer could almost feel the fear in her, at realizing that her memories were gone, the girl practically a walking, talking shell of a human at this point, that she had nothing she could possibly remember than her name.

The man remained silent, his stoic eyes staring at her, remembering that brief smile she showed when she gave him her name, that same face now stricken with terror. He didn't know what he could possibly say to her at that moment, other than just to watch from where he stood. After all, what could he possibly say to someone who just woke up to find out that they've lost all their memories, countless events spent with loved ones and friends unable to be recalled?


	10. Molesting pervert

The girl, although shaken to the core at this disaster, attempts to calmly explain her situation to Sakura, who only responds with a mildly surprised expression followed by an apologetic smile.

"Your memory restoration failed? I cannot help you, for I, Sakura Matou, am just a custodial A.I." Again, the way she speaks sounds very off, but there were more pressing matters to worry about. Hakuno's eyebrows knit together in a frown upon her complaints being completely ignored. It seems that Sakura can't act beyond her programming.

"Oh, I should give this to you before I forget." Rummaging through her pockets, she takes out what appears to be a portable terminal and hands it to me. The girl stares at the foreign device; she assumes that it's for receiving messages and whatnot.

"As a participant, you should pay attention to any messages that appear on your terminal." With that, Sakura proceeds to explain each function of the terminal. "You can also the terminal to monitor on your servant's condition through the 'Status' menu option and review any information you've gathered on your opponent by choosing the 'Matrix' menu option. Press on the 'Select' menu option to change equipment and to see what equipment you are currently using on yourself. Finallt, the 'Item' menu option allows you to check the items you have on hand as well as formal wear in your possession." She says all this in a monotonous tone, as if she's reciting out of a manual. The girl slowly nods her head, keeping in mind to try and use her terminal to familiarize herself with the various functions it has.

With that, Sakura says no more and begins walking towards the table where she had placed her medical supplies, now sorting through them. Seeing that she didn't want to disturb her and that there was nothing much she could do from lingering in the nurse's office, Hakuno bows her head slightly in mute thanks and quietly walks out of the room, sliding the door behind her.

The minute she steps out, she comes in contact with small crowds of students, one thing of which she should be familiar about. However, the constant unease she's been feeling ever since earlier makes her sick, and she doesn't feel the need to converse with any of these people in her current state.

So she's lost her memories. That statement alone was enough to make her feel dejected. How could such a thing have happen? Why did such a thing happen...to her of all people? Even now all Hakuno wants to do is deny the truth, but finds it difficult to do when the truth is slapping her hard across the face.

She shakes her head, slapping her cheeks lightly. Not good, she was starting to feel even more depressed just hanging around there, and all the noise around her isn't helping matters. She needed a change if pace to try and sort out her thoughts before anything else. After all, she was now a participant of the Holy Grail War.

Stroding down the long hallway, she finds her feet automatically carrying her upstairs, and soon enough she finds herself staring at what appears to be the door to the rooftop. Surely the rooftop would be quiet enough for her to properly think things out. With a hand on the doorknob, she twists it and pushes the door open, feeling a light breeze against her face.

She looks around, expecting fenced walls around her but is instead greeted by plain white balcony railings around the sides. She frowns upon noticing that she wasn't the only one there. Squinting her eyes, she sees someone standing a few feet away, with long wavy hair and a familiar blood-red turtleneck sweater...

The girl blinks, registering that she was staring at none other than Rin Tohsaka herself. Actually, forget that; she wasn't all that surprised to see Rin of all people here in this tournament. After all, even before the preliminaries began, Rin had demonstrated her abilities in being an independent woman of powerful influence, with a nice face and figure, gets good grades and is insanely popular in Tsukumihara Academy. From what she heard, Rin even makes Shinji jealous, which...isn't exactly a good achievement considering that the guy gets jealous of almost anything that's alive and breathing...but otherwise a noteworthy accomplishment considering the rumours floating about her outright rejecting him in the most savage way possible one morning.

However, she became popular while the school was at peace. Things are different now. That defiant smile on her wonderful facial features is nothing like the vacant smile of a popular student.

The Holy Grail War...before Hakuno knew it, the school had been turned into a battlefield. She can tell that Rin knows it too. She hadn't fully registered it earlier, but everyone is predators in this school, where it's kill or be killed, otherwise known as survival of the fittest. She had to acknowledge that as the truth, even if she doesn't want to.

Walking over towards her, Hakuno stops just a metre away when she notices Rin staring intently at the sky, almost studying it in great detail rather than just observing it. "I've investigated this school from top to bottom, but there's nothing unique about it," says Rin as she pats the walls and the floors, murmuring to herself. Hakuno raises an eyebrow. She couldn't be talking to herself, could she?

It was then that she noticed Rin's eyes narrowing. Turning her head, she eyes Hakuno with a frown, acknowledging her presence. "...Huh? Hey, you over there." The girl's shoulders immediately tense; she had been too preoccupied in her thoughts, she hadn't noticed that she had been standing there staring at Rin like some creep! "W-Who, me? Sorry...I was just...uh...!"

However, instead of glaring at her, Rin's expression softens. "Yeah, you. I haven't checked the NPCs out much." She taps her chin in thought, before she blinks as if a lightbulb had flashed in her mind. "Aha, I know a simple way. Don't you move." With that, she flips her hair over her shoulder and brisk walks towards the girl.

Unexpectedly, hand reaches out and touches her cheek. The girl, upon feeling the contact of Rin's cold fingers brushing against her cheekbone, had to note that her fingers were rather thin...and delicate too. She realizes how remarkable that so strong a gaze can come from so innocent a frame.

"Imagine that. You're warm, even though you shouldn't be," she comments, tilting her head to the side. By then, Hakuno was already beginning to feel her cheeks flare up from her intense stare. "...Huh? That's weird, seeing a red cheek flush like that." Her hand that was previously placed on the girl's cheek begins sliding down towards her neck, touching her collarbone and shoulders, feeling her arms and soon enough, brushing against the fabric of her clothes near her stomach, causing Hakuno to flinch.

With Rin's face being literally three centimetres from her face, Hakuno didn't know whether to feel embarassed or uncomfortable. She had feel the hammering of her heart against her chest resounding in her ears, the organ racing at the sheer closeness. Rin's breath exhales warmly on her cheek and her wavy long hair tickles Hakuno's bare neck.

Her pat down of her shoulders and stomach seem playful compared to the harsh gaze she gave earlier. Transfixed, she is unable to move as Rin's pale fingers slide all over her. "Interesting. You're more well-built than I had expected. You look and feel real. Maybe more real than most people," she concludes, her eyes giving off mild curiosity.

However, Rin's smile quickly vanishes, replaced with a scowl as she turns her head, withdrawing her hand back to her side. "...Huh? What are you laughing at? It's our advantage to look into everything, even the NPCs." Once again, Rin appears to be talking to the air, to which Hakuno realized that her servant was probably there, witnessing this entire thing.

There was a brief pause before Rin starts blinking profusely, turning her head back to eye Hakuno with narrowed eyes. "...Huh? She's a master too? No...a master should be more..." Her eyes soon begin to widen, and she backs away from Hakuno in shock, her cheeks turning almost the same colour as her sweater. She must've caught on by now.

"W-Wait...that means when I felt up...!" she gasps. Yes, which basically means that Rin Tohsaka practically molested a bypasser for mistakening her as an NPC. Hakuno couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen if someone apart from them and their servants saw the whole ordeal; rumours would be flying about in seconds.

She must be thinking about it now, because she's blushing. Hakuno remains silent, biting down on her lower lip. Rin takes a moment to settle down from the initial shock, before she facepalms. "Ugh...how embarassing..." Yes, she had to agree.

Rin bashfully whips around, her back facing the girl. "Shut up! I can make mistakes too y'know! Don't call me a pervert!" The embarassed girl was pretty sure that she was addressing an off-colour comment coming from her servant there. In fact, Hakuno could practically picture her servant clutching their sides in laughter.

"It could've been my imagination. Or a hacker-such a detailed NPC would rarely exist otherwise," she mutters under her breath, before her sharp eyes met the girl's large brown ones once again, jabbing her index finger accusingly against her chest.

"Anyway, you're to blame for being confusing! You're too bland to be anything but an NPC." Hakuno blinks, her facial expression neutral. What could she possibly reply back in return to counter that statement? The girl hated to admit it, but she wasn't the best when it came to expressing herself and her emotions.

"Nothing but a blank look on your face, even now. Were the prelims too boring to jog your memories?" This question causes Hakuno to visibly stiffen as she looked away; Rin touched on a subject that she'd rather not think about, even in jest; it kind of grinds her to a halt.

Staring at the floor, Hakuno tries to look calm. "Well...sorry to say but...I have no memories...so I can't exactly remember anything," she mutters, her fingers curling to form clenched fists. Rin's eyes go wide in bewilderment, and that expression soon morphs into a confused frown.

"No way. Your memories still haven't returned? That's...really not good." As if stating the obvious, Rin places a hand on her hip and continues. "Once you enter the Holy Grail War, the only way out is to kill. Leaving prematurely isn't allowed. Even without memories or previous battle experience, you still have to fight." She pauses for a moment before she says any more, and lets out a sigh.

"...What am I saying? Oh well, it doesn't matter. You'll be defeated in the Holy Grail War soon enough." With that, her eyes direct back to the sky, the concern leaving her voice. This is the real Rin Tohsaka, her opponent in the Holy Grail War, though the girl could tell that Rin's hostility towards her isn't personal. After all, she considers everyone in the Holy Grail War to be her enemy.

"Now, what's the matter, master who was met a newly-acquainted magus? No reply?" She herself turns upon hearing that familiar deep voice only to meet her servant. She says nothing in return, merely staring at him for a few seconds before she shakes her head. Unlike her servant, she has no witty response to her future rival.

 _She has to win._ _Now that she knows what's at stake, she has to win, no matter what._

"...Well, I guess I pity you. We're not cracking into the system and destroying it, we're hacking. I don't know what's on the other side of SE.RA.PH's wall once it goes down," Rin adds, catching Hakuno off guard by continuing the conversation. "Did your soul get jarred after you made it into the main event? If it's lost or unreadable, how about you investigate later?" She says all this in a light-hearted manner as if Hakuno's problem was nothing to be overly concerned about.

"Well, in any case, you don't look like you're cut out for fighting. Thanks to excitement, or nerves, everything feels unreal. No matter if you have memories or not." She glances back towards her for a brief moment, before she sighs once again. "...Don't you get it? You can't help feeling like you're in a dream. It'll be hard to win feeling so disoriented." With that, Rin goes silent, signalling the end of the one-sided conversation. Bowing slightly, Hakuno quickly excuses herself as she leaves the rooftop, stopping by the steps to think.

So she's lost her memories. Who is she? What's her story? What was she even doing here in this Holy Grail War in the first place? Those questions still remained unanswered, and all she knows it that she is now a master, with a servant at her command.


	11. The Line between Fiction and Reality

As the girl makes her way down the stairs, she hears a beeping noise coming from her terminal, the device vibrating within her pocket. Surprised, she takes it out and turns it on, seeing a message pop up on the screen. _"All masters, please proceed to designated classrooms immediately."_ Designated classrooms? What did that mean?

Scrolling down, she sees some more text, reading, _"Participant No. 128: Hakuno Kishinami. Designated classroom: Classroom 2-A."_ She tilts her head to the side, looking confused. "I believe it's best that we head to our destination first. Perhaps there'll be an important announcement...otherwise we'll know what to expect when we get there ," her servant advises behind her back, leaning his head over her shoulder to take a look.

She nods, switching the device off before she walks down towards the second floor. Standing in front of a somewhat familiar door, the girl braces herself for what was to come as she slides it open...

...Only to be greeted with a small group of other fellow masters, some of them quietly chatting amongst themselves while others kept silent and to themselves. She raises an eyebrow. "Uh...so...what are we supposed to do now?"

"Hmm...maybe take a seat and wait for a few minutes? There's got to be a reason why they sent you that message. And from what I can tell, there are quite a few people here who seem just as confused as you are," Archer replies. Hakuno decides to go along with his servant's advice and takes a seat by the window in a corner, looking out towards the virtual sky. Her eyes are fixed towards the swirls of data shifting around the clouds, telling that what kind of world she was in. It was a completely different space, a new world which she isn't familiar with.

It wasn't long before she heard the sound of the door sliding open once again, turning her head, she now focuses her attention at the person who had entered. The first she notices is her striking leafy-green sundress worn over a yellow and green striped sweater, her hair a splendid light brown. Hakuno's mouth opens slightly in disbelief as the woman strides in proudly...

...shortly before she tripped over her own two feet and fell flat onto the floor. The whole class cringed at the sound of her nails dragging themselves across the blackboard with a loud screech, hushed murmurs going about. Hakuno stares at the woman lying on the floor, recognizing her to be Taiga Fujimura, her homeroom and English teacher back during the preliminaries. Was she a master here too?

Standing up, Taiga acts as though her awfully painful fall didn't affect her one bit, and begins talking after clearing her throat to get the class's attention. "Ahem! Good morning class! I see that you all are very energetic and that's great!" And she still had the same amount of enthusiasm as back then too.

"Anyway, as you all may or may not know, I'm Taiga Fujimura! And in this Holy Grail War, I serve as one of the secondary overseers, tasked with monitoring you guys from time to time. But enough about me!" So she's not a master, but an NPC. Well, that made sense, seeing that Sakura was also not a participant in the war.

Taking a piece of chalk, she writes down a few words on the board. "So...as nost of you are still new to this tournament, from today onwards, you guys will be spending some time each day learning battle strategies as well as the history of various Legendary Souls by none other than yours truly!"

"Well, that was unexpected. Who would've known that the SE.RA.PH takes consideration in novice masters. Lucky you" Archer says with a smirk, his arms crossed over his chest. Hakuno could only give him an unamused look, before Taiga begins the lessons. Making small glances every now and then, the girl came to a conclusion that these classes weren't compulsory, seeing that there were quite a number of empty seats.

Soon enough, the three hours quickly flew by as Taiga dismissed the class, dashing out the door in a frenzy, yelling something about it being lunchtime . The girl leans back in her chair, sighing before she got up. "Did you learn anything out of those lessons?" her servant inquires. "Well...somewhat. I do have a better understanding of the war and all." From what Taiga had taught in the first few minutes of the lesson, Hakuno found out that the Holy Grail War was decided into seven rounds, to which every master was assigned their respective opponent for each round. "I see. That it's best that you continue to attend these lessons in the future as well."

With her servant ending the conversation, the girl noted that most of the masters had already scurried out of the classroom, with only a handful of them lingering behind to discuss amongst one another...well, not like she really knew anyone here to talk with. Besides, every master here was considered an opponent, so trying to get close with them was useless.

Walking towards the door, Hakuno feels someone tugging on her wrist. Turning around, her eyes meet with a girl around her age, with tanned skin and ebony-black hair in a bob cut. "Hey! You're a master too, right?! I'm Nagisa!" she smiles, shaking her hand vigorously. Hakuno was at a loss for words, clueless at what to say to this sudden random development.

"Err...I'm Hakuno," she finally replies. "I see~ What a nice name!" "Um...is there a reason why you're talking to me now?" There was no point in going around in circles, so the girl figured that it would be best to be blunt and get straight to the point. After all, it wasn't everyday that you get a stranger coming up to you and acting like they're your childhood friend.

"Ah...sorry. I couldn't help but notice that you seemed rather quiet and kept to yourself instead of conversing with the others earlier! I take it that you're new to this kinda thing? Cause I am too!" Hakuno sweatdropped. She could already tell that this girl liked to talk a lot; Nagisa wasn't even allowing her to reply.

"So...who's your opponent for the first round? After all, once your opponent's been decided, it's like the tournament has officially begun." Hakuno remains silent at her question. Now that she thought about it, she hasn't been informed of her opponent. "Um...I don't really know actually."

Nagisa's eyes went wide as she looked at the girl as though she had grown an extra head. "What? You don't know who you're fighting? Then you'd better go find Father Kotomine. He's the overseer of the war." "Father...Kotomine?" The name itself was enough for her to raise her eyebrows.

"Yeah, that's what everyone calls him. The man's pretty tall and looks like a priest." Patting her by the shoulder, Nagisa gives her a bright, cheerful smile. "Well, I'll see you later then! It was nice chatting with you Hakuno, but I've gotta go and start training with my servant in the Arena!" And with that, the girl leaves, with Hakuno standing there dumbfounded. Forget about Rin and Taiga, she had just encountered an even stranger woman!

"...That was...eventful. Though I don't think it'll be wise of you to befriend someone like her." Once again, her servant's voice brings her back to reality. "...I know." Yes, now that she was in the Holy Grail War, she should prioritize her own matters over the others.

Walking out of the classroom, Hakuno decides to search for this man that Nagisa spoke of. Upon making her way to the first floor, she spots someone standing in front of the shoe lockers. She stops, staring at the man from afar.

Somehow, this man gave her the bad vibes. Standing tall and upright with his back straight, the man was dressed in black, his clothes almost that of a priest, his lifeless, sinister-looking pupils eyeing every master that passed by him creepily. It was then that he noticed her standing from afar. Hakuno stiffens, not sure whether to walk away or approach this man. Was he this 'Father Kotomine' that Nagisa spoke of?

Seeing that she was not budging from her spot, the man decides to walk towards her, his shoes clicking against the floor with each step. Standing in front of her, his figure towers over her stature in an almost menacing manner. "...Congratulations. You have been deemed worthy to be a participant in the Holy Grail War. What is thy name?" Hakuno gulps, slowly opening her mouth to answer. "...Hakuno...Kishinami."

"Hakuno...Kishinami." For a moment there, the girl could've sworn she saw a glint in his eyes as her name rolled off his tongue, but one thing was for sure: she disliked this man...or at least being in the presence of him makes her nauseous. "You may call me Father Kotomine. I am an NPC assigned with the task of supervising the Holy Grail War."

So her assumptions were right. Though she found it hard to believe that this person was a priest, she remains silent and listens to what he has to say. After all, she also had to ask him about her opponent. "As of today, you and your fellow magi have been given the honour of fighting in the Arena up ahead." Arena? Nagisa did mention that detail as well before she left. Was that place some sort of training ground for masters?

Kotomine nods, and continues on with his lecture. "The war is run as an elimination tournament, with the grail being awarded to the last person standing. In other words, the participating masters will kill each other until there is only one person left. Simple enough to understand, yes? Even a complete idiot should be able to understand the rules." The girl tries not to react to that one word. Kill...it was unevering how it could be used so casually when talking.

...Also, she wasn't too sure if the man was hinting something when he mentioned that last line.

"Masters get a six day preparation period before the Elimination battle, which will occur on the seventh day of each week. I'd advise you to use the time given go devise the most efficient way of slaughtering your foe." Hakuno could almost feel shivers going up her spine, wanting nothing more than to leave...if she could. "Y-Yes...thank you."

"On the seventh day, you and your foe will fight. The winner lives and the loser is...deleted." All the girl wanted to do in that moment was cover her eyes to block out this man's voice. Even though she had already knew this earlier, her mind still rejects the thought of killing another, the man's voice painfully piercing her ears. No, she didn't like hearing this at all.

"If you wish to make a query, speak now. The right to ask about the rules is given to all." Hakuno tries to calm the inner turmoil she was experiencing from earlier, addressing to the matter. "Then...how do I survive this?"

"As I've already explained, after six days of preparation, you must kill your assigned opponent. You have chosen your servant as a weapon for that very purpose, have you not?" Hakuno had never really thought about it, but even if she were reluctant, Archer didn't seem like the type to care what his master thought. In fact, he could probably kill off the opponent without hesitation whatsoever if he wasn't binded by his command seals under her.

Instead of lingering on unwanted thoughts, Hakuno tried to distract her mind by pursuing another question. "Preparation period? Is that period fixed for every master?" "Of course, the other masters are given the same time to prepare for battle, and to kill. As for how to prepare, I cannot help you. Do whatever you feel is necessary." Was it just her, or did this priest possess a highly disturbing way of conversing and answering questions? Hakuno didn't really know whether she wanted to even ask him anymore questions at this point.

"Then...I'd like to inquire about the terminal." "The terminal will relay any messages generated by the system which governs the Holy Grail War. It is the course of wisdom to pay heed to any message you may receive." So the message she got earlier this morning was from the system...the SE.RA.PH. Hakuno didn't seem to have any more questions regarding the rules, she nods. "I think I'm prepared as I can be."

"I see. Good luck then." As the man makes the motion to leave, but not before Hakuno stops him from doing so. "U-Um...!" "...? Is something troubling you, young one?" "Err...that is...I don't know who's my opponent for this round," she replies in a meek voice, pressing the tip of her index fingers against each other.

"You've yet to be informed of your first round opponent? Hmm...wait just a moment." Kotomine takes out his own terminal and begins fidgeting around with it, before a frown appears on his face a moment later.

"...Strange. There seems to be a system error. I'll locate your opponent by tomorrow," he reassures, keeping the terminal. "I see. I'd appreciate that." Hakuno bows, now about to leave herself, but is stopped by Kotomine's words.

"One more thing. Masters that continue to advance will be given a private room." The girl's ears perk at the very mention of a 'private room'. Kotomine chuckles at her child-like response, handing her what appears to be a slip of paper with a password of some sort.

"Your room will be located in classroom 2-B. Please enter this password into your terminal. This will allow your terminal to act as a key card whenever you wish to enter your room from the outside." Hakuno nods, gladly taking the paper from him with glee.

"Well, the time for conversation has come to an end. The door ahead leads to the Arena. For today, concentrate on becoming accustomed to the inner workings of the Arena. In case you're wondering, the Arena entrance uses the same door you went through during the preliminaries. Good luck. Though it would be great to converse with you more, I must return to the church, for there is a pressing matter I must discuss with the sisters there." Without another word, Kotomine turns and leave, stroding down the other end of the hallway. Hakuno continues to watch his back, until she hears a dissatisfied 'tsk' coming from her servant.

"...? What's wrong? Did he say something that bothered you?" she asked. Shaking his head, Archer merely sighed, his eyebrows knitted together in a frown. "It's nothing really. It's just that the priest reminded of a man who acted and talked just like him...and let's just say that the man and I had some...bad history between us." That was surprising; seeing that her servant was rather calm and composed most of the time, she was surprised by the fact that he got bothered over such a trivial matter.

Now that the thought came to her mind, she didn't know anything about her servant, the man who pulled her out from the brink of death and is her weapon for the war. This man whom she knows nothing of, and her who he doesn't know anything of either. This man who came to her aid despite how weak and powerless she was. This man who willingly accepted her situation. Can she really hope to win the Holy Grail War with such a disadvantage? Archer did say that he would tell her in due time but...the same cannot be said for her.

At first Hakuno thought that her amnesia would only hinder her, but now she realizes how frustrating it must've been for her servant to have a master whom he knows nothing of...and will continue to know nothing of as long as her memories do not return.

.The people whom she interacted with all had the same expression of their faces upon finding out about her problem: pity. She hated that. She didn't want to seem different, to feel left out. Just picturing that made her feel irritated with herself, even after knowing that she can't do anything about it.

Though curious to ask, she thought of it to be better to not pursue the matter any further. Perhaps one day, when things have calmed down, that maybe...just maybe...

...Archer then, would be willing to tell her more about his past.


	12. To be Allies or Enemies

The girl is barely able to take a step before she sees what appears to be a dust cloud zooming towards her at an alarmingly fast speed, before someone takes a firm hold of her hand. Eyes wide, she stares at Taiga Fujimura in bewilderment. The teacher pants, as if she had just completed a marathon.

" *Huff* H-Hey there Kishinami-san...I've finally caught you!" she breathes, taking a moment to catch her breath. "Err...what did you need me for, Fujimura-sensei...?" Hakuno quietly asked, already getting a bad feeling. Even back at school during the prelims, Hakuno never really stood out. Unlike Rin, her grades were pretty average, her looks were...decent, there was nothing in particular to brag about in terms of her figure, and she wasn't really close with her classmates or the teachers. So why would the school's tiger, Taiga Fujimura, want to see her now?

After recovering herself, the teacher plasters a huge smile on her face, her hand already clamped onto Hakuno's shoulder in case she tried to run away. "...You'd be willing to do your poor teacher a tiny little favour...right?" "Erm...that's...uh..." "RIGHT?" she emphasized, her grip on the girl's shoulder tightening considerably.

Hakuno gulped, numbly nodding her head in defeat. "O-Of course...I'd be happy to," she weakly replies. "Thank you Kishinami-san, you've made my day!" Taiga smiles, her eyes starting to well up in tears. "S-So...what do you need me to do?" the girl immediately asks, hoping that her favour wasn't anything too big or troublesome to handle.

"Right! So...the thing is, my favourite kendo sword recently disappeared. I stashed it in the archery range's supply room, but it somehow managed to find its way to the Arena! Can you believe that?!" The chocolate-haired female blinks in silence, taking a brief moment to process what Taiga had said as her head slowly tilted to the side. How on earth did a bamboo sword end up in the Arena of all places, without Taiga even knowing about it?

"Oh, don't give me that 'Ah...she's hopeless' look! Stuff like this can just happen sometimes okay?! Probably the work of one of the fellow masters who still hold some grudge against me since the prelims," the teacher grumbles. Hakuno had to agree with that. Taiga Fujimura was rather brutal with her students regardless of gender as a teacher back during the preliminaries, so it would make sense for a fellow hater or two to pull such a prank.

"Anyway, since I can't go in there, I need you to go and get my kendo sword and hand it over to me during the first round!" This detail causes the brown-haired female to pause. NPCs can't enter the Arena? That would mean that apart from the masters, no one else could possibly interfere in the Arena during the preparation period.

"Oh, and one last thing: I'm not here all the time, so you'll want to check back every noe and then! Thanks again!" With a solid slap across her back, the girl winces in pain as Taiga begins stroding off, rubbing the area a moment later and hoping that the blow wouldn't leave a bruise later.

Now that it was obvious what Hakuno had to do, the girl decides to check out her private room first before heading to the Arena. Before she knew it, she was standing outside classroom 2-B, typing the password into her terminal like Kotomine had instructed. Raising the device towards the knob, she hears a low hum, or maybe an incantation, before a click sound is heard. Looking at the door, she slowly slides it open and enters, the door closing behind her.

Looking around, she sees that some drastic changes had been made to the classroom. What had once been a place of learning had converted into a small bedroom, with some desks and chairs stacked up neatly and a few red tablecloths draped over them in a corner, forming an odd makeshift throne as soft, velvet curtains covered the windows.

In the opposite end of the room was a simple, single platform bed, along with another desk which looked to act as a makeshift bedside table, a small lamp placed on it as cardboard boxes were placed in an organized manner next to the bed.

Exploring the room a little more, she sees a door which was previously never there. Opening the door, she is surprisingly greeted with a small bathroom, consisting of a sink and rectangular mirror as well as a shower and bathtub positioned by the corner. Though the bathroom was a little cramped and could barely fit two people, Hakuno was nonetheless grateful that the SE.RA.PH could the matter of hygiene into consideration, and that she could at least still take a shower. So this was going to be her private room.

Without missing a beat, her servant materializes, sitting on the throne with one leg crossed over the other. "Hmm...though some changes have been made, your private room bears a striking resemblance to a classroom. Well, whatever. It's not important on how it looks, as long as we can talk strategy in here."

The girl sighs. Couldn't this guy at least be grateful that they've been provided a space that the prying eyes and ears of other masters can't reach? Anyway, with this private room, she can always come back to talk with Archer about more private matters concerning the war without having to worry about someone possibly spying or listening in on them.

"Hmph, so this is headquarters? It's lacking in comfort and style, not that I'm in any position to complain. Even a shabby room like this will feel like a king's palace after a few wins under our belt," Archer comments, glancing around the room. A few wins under the belt...in the Holy Grail War, killing was the way of securing victory. It was either you or your opponent that would have to die. That's what she's been told ever since she got here...but...

"...I've been thinking about this for a while but..." Archer looks towards his master, watching her fidget a little. _"...During the preliminaries, when you said that you'd fight for me...were you serious about that?"_ the girl asks quietly. "Huh? What's with the sudden question?" "Ah no...it's just...that statement's been bothering me for a while." Hakuno tries to avoid looking at her servant in the eye, as she goes on.

"...All I've been hearing ever since I woke up is that in this war...everyone's forced to kill, or you're pretty much dead. I know that... but still...I..." "The thought of killing another pains you?" Archer goes quiet after asking, and the girl dares not speak another word, until she hears his footsteps, the man drawing closer towards her. Looking up, she sees the man raising his hand towards her, making a gesture as if to pat her on the head when...

...His fingers reach out and pinch her on the cheek, hard. "Ow! W-What was that for?!" Hakuno retorts in disbelief, rubbing her red cheek as Archer withdraws his hand. "Good. At least you don't look so depressed now." Her eyes widen. "...W-What?"

"You don't need to overthink things. Sure, when the time comes, you'll eventually be forced to choose between killing or being killed, but that can wait...at least for now." Archer places a hand on her shoulder, as if reassuring her. "Focus on what's in the present. At our current state, we need to train and get in shape to prepare for what's to come, am I right?"

The girl's mouth opens, but closes a moment later. Just for a while, it almost felt as if she could wholeheartedly trust his words, and that they were some kind of encouragement towards her. "...You're right. I shouldn't be too pessimistic when nothing's happened yet." Taking a step back, Archer smirks at her. "Now then, shall we head to the Arena? If you continue to sulk here, the sun will eventually set." Archer had a point. There was no use in worrying and going about in circles.

Nodding, the corners of her lips slowly curl up to form a smile. "Yeah...let's get going." Her servant says no more, and dematerializes. The girl, now feeling a little better than before thanks to her servant's advice, exits the room, heading downstairs to go to the Arena. "Be aware that once you enter the Arena, should you choose to leave, the day will come to an end. Before you enter the Arena, I suggest you do any shopping or intel gathering first," the man advises.

"Shopping?" The thought hadn't occurred to her that she'd need to do shopping for the war. "Not clothes shopping. Shopping for medical supplies and so forth to use in battle. You can do so by heading downstairs to the commissary...like those masters there," Archer explains, directing his master's attention towards a group of masters who were heading in the direction of where the cafeteria was.

"Ah...I see. Then I'll do that." After all, it wouldn't be wise to enter the Arena without healing items in case Archer or her got hurt. Following the group of masters, she steadily makes her way downstairs.

Upon reaching the cafeteria, she sees a crowd of masters lining up by a counter which Hakuno could see medical supplies and other items of sorts neatly stacked on the shelves. Or more accurately to say was...the masters were wrestling their way through to get to the front.

The girl sweatdrops, watching the brutal battlefield unfold before her. "That's...where we'll get the supplies?" "Yeah. And I'm assuming that there are a ton of masters here because it's the first day of the tournament." Watching his master in amusement, Hakuno could almost tell that he was smirking at her. "Well...aren't you gonna go? The items will finish soon if you don't hurry." The girl's shoulders tense. "I...I know that!"

Pushing her past the students, the girl miraculously manages to squeeze in front after minutes of wrestling her way through, barely managing to take a look at the items on sale. "Err...excuse me! I'll take five bags of ether powder!" she yells, watching as the woman takes five bags of powder off the shelf and hands it to her. "That'll be 500ppt miss!" the lady yells back, extending her hand to collect the money.

It was then that Hakuno came to a realization: she had no money. Panicking, she laughs nervously at the shop lady. "Erm...sorry but...I don't have any money." Heads began turning towards her in alarm as the girl blushed. "Hah?! What's the deal then?! Do you think that I'll just gladly hand over these items to you?!" the shop lady says, obviously looking annoyed. "N-No...that's..."

"I'll pay for her." Turning her head, she sees a familiar woman standing next to her. "Nagisa-san...? What are you-" Nagisa smiles, paying for the items as she gently pulls Hakuno to the side.

"Yo Hakuno! Didn't think we'd meet so soon again!" Nagisa greets, smiling. "Y-Yeah..me too. But, why are you here? Didn't you wanna head to the Arena earlier?" "Oh, well...I kinda got held up! I was busy doing intel gathering on my opponent!"

"Intel gathering?" "Yup! After all, finding out about your opponent's strengths and weaknesses and formulating a strategy is the key to winning right?" Huh...Hakuno never really thought about it. Up until now, all she was concerned about was her own abilities. She should probably start doing the same once she finds out about her opponent tomorrow. "...Yeah...you're probably right about that."

"Anyway, you're here to get healing items too...so I suppose that you're gonna head to the Arena soon?" "Erm...yeah." "Cool. Then why don't we head there together-" Nagisa pauses, her head turning to the side as she frowns. Based on this action alone, Hakuno could tell that her servant was talking to her about something.

"...Ah...on second thought, I need to head to the library. Gotta try and gather as much info as I can on my opponent before I head to the Arena!" Nagisa replies a moment later. "Oh...yeah. Then...see you." Nagisa gives a bright grin before she begins jogging upstairs.

"...Didn't I tell you that befriending her was a bad idea?" Hakuno is brought out of her thoughts by Archer's stern voice. "...What?" The man sighs, placing a hand to his forehead. "Allies may help you now, but they'll only get in the way later, especially if you manage to advance in the Holy Grail War. For all we know, she may have been your opponent for this round as well. Your friendship with her will eventually lead to your downfall, one way or another."

Upon hearing that statement, Hakuno's eyes narrowed slightly. Though she didn't want to admit it, Archer was right. Nagisa may be acting nice towards her now, but she'll probably backstab her the moment she gets a chance...and Hakuno couldn't risk that. It's frustrating, but she didn't want to get hurt...so for now all she can do is to maintain a safe distance, and not step over the line. After all, everyone is an enemy to another in this ruthless place.

"...I know that. I'll...try to keep my distance from her," she says after a while. "At least you're aware of it. Anyway, should we head to the Arena? We've wasted enough time as it is." The girl nods, making her way back upstairs to the Arena. That's right. In this war, she can only rely on her servant and her own willpower to survive, nothing more, nothing less. She couldn't let her selfish naivete get to her.

It hadn't popped up in her mind before, but Nagisa's kindness was probably her way of gathering "intel", on finding out about the other masters in case she ever got through to the next round and those masters she befriended were to become her opponents. Just the thought of betrayal by the same person who a few minutes ago, had graciously helped her, made Hakuno uncomfortable.

Even if it was just a simple act of kindness, she still felt...happy, in that even as the war had begun, someone was still willing to extend their help to her. However, thinking about it now, that act of help was probably for Nagisa's own benefit.

It didn't take long before she found herself standing a metre away from the familiar door, the same door she went through for the preliminaries as Kotomine had specified. Yes, this was the same place where everything began.

Placing her hand against the knob, a small window pops up with the text: _"Enter the Arena?"_ along with the 'Yes' and 'No' options below. Clicking on 'Yes', another window pops up, this time with the selections: _"Go to the First Floor"_ and _"Go to the second Floor_

Upon pressing the first option, she hears the door open open with a click. Turning the knob, she enters the Arena, a bright light snuffing her senses as she felt the door close behind her firmly. Her body is gravitationally pulled towards an unknown force through the space of data, and she is immobile for that brief moment until she reaches her destination.


	13. The Calm Before the Storm

**First Chimeric Lunar Sea- First Floor**

 **Arena Level 04**

 _Greed and lust combine to burst into brilliance, and lead onward to the sepulcher of the sea._

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

Hakuno opens her eyes, her pupils coming into contact with familiar surroundings, the blue translucent walls and floors which remind her of her trial before entering the final room...except this time, in place of an effigy, she was going to fight with her servant.

The man stands tall, having materialized upon entering the Arena along with her, his copper-grey eyes scanning the vicinity carefully. "Looks like we're here. From a first glance, the Arena's layout looks pretty simple...practically dull even. I was expecting to be ambushed by enemy programs the minute we got here but...guess not," he comments.

"Enemy programs? So the Arena has those as well?" Archer nods. "Just like the preliminaries, the Arena is full of enemy programs. During the duration of the war, this is the place we're allowed to actively fight. And in order to cull incompetent masters, the SE.RA.PH has turned a number of enemy programs loose here."

Hakuno tries not to twitch at Archer's passive-aggressive sarcasm, and instead turns her focus towards the labyrinth they were now in. The enemy programs she faced back during the prelimininaries may have been easy, but she's sure that from here on out she and Archer will be facing tougher, more difficult enemies and opponents. Just the thought of that...was enough to-

"It's the perfect place for a certain novice master to train, don't you think?" Her train of thought however, is rudely interrupted by yet another one of Archer's sarcastic remarks. Ever since their chat in the infirmary, Hakuno's been trying to ignore her servant's comments but...it was starting to bug her at this point.

Taiga mentioned during her lesson that masters are paired with servants based on compatibility but...she was starting to doubt that...greatly. However, instead of arguing with him, Hakuno decides to stare at Archer with a frown, unamused, and not in the mood to entertain the conversation.

"Ok ok. No need to get all moody. Don't worry, I'll try to not let you die," Archer responds, smirking. Ok, screw patience; this was going nowhere. Hakuno had her suspicions ever since she woke up but...now she's certain; he's definitely messing with her.

Hakuno's mouth is agape with the intention to give a witty retort or two when Archer decides to walk on, leaving her almost on the verge of grinding her teeth in frustration if not for the sheer amount of sanity she still had in herself.

She had probably begun taking notice of it back at the nurse's office...no, even during their first encounter back in the final room, but this man was definitely taking her for a fool. She knew of her cluelessness to this war but...there was no need to ridicule her to this extent...and even teasing had its limits; the girl herself was already beginning to feel mentally exhausted trying to make an effort to cooperate with Archer.

She takes a moment to calm herself down. She couldn't let him get on her nerves so soon. No, she refused to let him get the better of her this soon. After all, they were supposed to work together in this war, so cooperation was necessary. She was his master, and he was her servant; that bond alone could not be severed now that she was an active participant in the war. If she wants to survive in this, she has to work with him...whether she likes it or not.

The girl internally sighs; who in their right mind thought that the two of them had good compatibility anyway? Somewhere in her mind, she blamed the smug voice from the preliminaries for putting them together...though she knew that she wasn't in any situation back then to complain.

 _Just be grateful that you're still alive and walking...thanks to him,_ she repeatedly says in her head as she walked on, plastering the best poker face she could muster. This was going to be a long day.

Stopping, Archer points towards the horizon. "As today will be your first taste in real combat, I'll be impressed if you make it as far as the enemy there. We have a whole day ahead of us. So let's make the best of it." This prompts her to squint her eyes towards where Archer was pointing, her pupils now fixed onto what appears to be an enemy program in the form of a large, purple bee. So that was her goal for today?

Hakuno doesn't have time to mull however, when Archer begins jogging ahead of her again. At this point, the girl doesn't even want to sigh or complain, instead choosing to run after him. Yup, this was going to be a long day.

The two continue to jog down the lane until they reach an open space, with what appears to be a large, virtual fountain in the center. Hakuno's eyes stare curiously at the object, walking over to take a closer look...when she miraculously slips and ends up plummeting straight into the water. The girl doesn't even have time to think much less prevent herself from falling into the fountain as she gasps, feeling her head painfully hit the bottom before emerging from the water a moment.

Archer stares at his master in bewilderment, before looking to the side a moment later, trying hard not to laugh but finding it hard to do so. The girl on the other hand, blushes hard in embarassment at what had just occurred. "Archer!" she yells at the now chuckling servant, her face turning a hue of red. How embarassing; she just had to demonstrate how much of a klutz she was as soon as they entered the Arena.

"Sorry...it was just, that was some fall back there. Even I couldn't do that if I tried," he replies, walking over towards her and extending his hand. The girl looks at it for a moment, before she gives him a deadpan look. "...It's fine, I can get out myself," she says slowly, climbing out from the fountain.

As soon as she did so, Hakuno could feel that her body was no longer wet, and the throbbing sensation she felt in her head due to the collision was also disappearing. It was then that a window appears before her with the details: _Revival fountain- heals both a master and their servant._ That would mean that...she had just fallen into a fountain with healing abilities...so that would explain the pain fading away. Touching the back of her head, she raises an eyebrow. "Huh...it doesn't hurt anymore."

"That's one of the properties of this healing fountain. Pretty useful if I do say so myself. However..." Grabbing ahold of her wrist, Archer gives his master a frown. "...I'd appreciate it if you'd be more careful next time. I don't need you getting any more injuries because of your clumsiness, understand?" Hakuno stares back at him in mild surprise at the gesture, before she gently shakes his hand off and numbly nods. Satisfied with her answer, Archer proceeds to walk on ahead, with Hakuno steadily following next to him.

The two walk on into the Arena until Hakuno stops, her chocolate orbs catching sight of a floating cube. She had faced several enemy programs back during the preliminaries but...even then, Hakuno couldn't help but feel worried. "Oh look, an enemy. It shouldn't be a problem, but don't hesitate to use any healing items if I do get hurt."

Giving her a sideways glance, he adds, "Actually, I'd recommend you try to keep me in good condition...please. Depending on your commands and performance, I might get mauled by even the weakest of enemy programs."

Archer says no further as he summons his twin swords. Getting the enemy's attention, Archer dashes towards it and nails an attack. The cube is thrown back, but isn't fazed by his blow and it races over towards him, attempting to attack him from the side.

Archer however, sensing the enemy program's intention, Archer jumps up into the air, the enemy program crashing into the wall instead before he deals another heavy blow at it. Hakuno watches the fight in awe, now reminded at the power her servant possessed.

After a few more blows, the enemy program goes down as it fizzles into data and disappears. Hakuno walks over to her servant just as the two swords vanish in his hands. "Hmm...that was easy. Considering that as a warm-up, we've still got a long way to go." That was just a warm-up? Well...now that she thought about it, the enemy didn't seem all that powerful anyway, at least when compared to Archer.

"Let's move onto the next one. There's no time to lollygag." Without waiting for her, the man is already walking on further into the Arena, with Hakuno having to run after him again. The pair continued to explore the Arena, with Hakuno obtaining a few ether shards from several item folders they found. "Hmm...it certainly won't hurt to take this, so why don't we?" was all her servant commented as they troded on.

Fighting a few more enemy programs, the hours quickly flew by, and soon enough, Hakuno had reached her goal for the day, having reached the bee-type enemy program. She looks at the enemy program, contemplating as to whether she should try to bypass it when her servant speaks up.

"This one is probably a little much to be facing on your first day of fighting. Let's come back tomorrow. After all, we've still got a lot of battles ahead of us." Now that was surprising. Seeing that Archer was rather eager to face more enemy programs, she assumed that he'd ignored her and just charge in.

"Ah...ok, if you say so. Then, should we stay here a little longer? I believe that there's still a few enemy programs we haven't finished off," she suggested. Archer looks as though he wasn't expecting her to give that suggestion, as both of his eyebrows raise in astonishment.

"Well...that all depends on you. Like I said, monitoring my master's condition is my top priority. I wouldn't mind remaining in the Arena a little longer but...you sure you're up for it?" The girl nods. "Yeah...I need to go get used to fighting after all." Archer doesn't say anything for a while, choosing to smirk a moment later. "I see."

And so, the two decided to fight off a few more enemy programs, and after two more hours, Hakuno was indeed exhausted and almost ready to collapse from running around at this point. "Master, should you depart now, the day will end and you won't be able to return until tomorrow. While this is by no means a place to linger, I'd just like to confirm if you wish to exit the Arena now."

While staying in the Arena to wait for the enemy programs to respawn and fight them again may be beneficial, Hakuno's weary body was fighting against her will. Her limbs were practically numb, and she didn't wanna risk fainting from being too tired. "Um...I think we should head back. We've pretty much cleared the area so..." "I see. Well, I guess that's enough exploring for today. Then let's return to the school and get some rest. We can continue tomorrow." Nodding, Hakuno walks towards the exit as the two returned back to the school

By the time the two had returned to the school building, the sun had long set, and it was already night. Hakuno quietly walked down the hallways, the school building strangely empty with only the sound of her footsteps disrupting the tranquil silence. Making her way up the stairs, she decides to head back to her private room and retire for the night.

Opening the door, the girl lets out a sigh of relief. Today was definitely a busy day for her, and so much had occurred. Because of that, she was glad that she could finally get some rest and relaxation.

After a nice, hot shower, Hakuno's body gently plops itself onto the soft mattress of her bed. While she did offer Archer to sleep on it instead, the servant insisted that he would be just fine, and stubbornly refused, instead choosing to remain on the throne of chairs. Pulling the covers over her body, she takes a moment to snuggle her head comfortably into the pillow, the exhaustion causing her eyelids to droop.

"...Master, are you awake?" Archer's voice manages to ease her sleepiness if not for a brief moment as the girl sits back up, confused. Turning her head, she sees Archer with a distressed look. "...? What's up?"

"...I'd contemplated on whether to tell you this now or tomorrow but...I feel that it'll be best to tell spill the beans now than later." This statement alone was enough to tell her that he had something important to say. Forcing her eyes open, Hakuno properly faces him to listen as to what he had to say.

"...I don't think I can put this in a better way, so I won't try to sugarcoat any details. I realized that back in the dungeon that my power level is limited to how much of it you can draw out of me." Hakuno blinks in shock, now fully awake as she listens on, worried for what he was going to say next.

"That being said...our only chance of winning is your improvement. Can't say that I'm thrilled at the odds of that going well..." The bomb that he dropped in the room causes Hakuno's voice to hitch in her throat. Her hands go cold, and her ears ring at his words. She doesn't speak.

The girl thought back to the her time in the Arena. Indeed, Archer had shown how great he was in combat that she had almost pretended not to notice it but...there were times...these brief moments where she would see Archer faltering, sometimes struggling to defeat the enemy programs that they ran into. While she first thought that it was just her seeint things, it was clear now; she was the cause of hindering Archer's true power, and that was why he had to exert himself more than he needed to.

Hakuno remains silent, unsure of what she could possibly say in response to what Archer has told her. She was weak, and she was well aware of that. Even so, she felt bad that Archer was forced to put up with her weaknesses as his master. The girl didn't have much fighting experience, nor did she possess any abilities that could help him in battle. She practically slowed him down the whole time they were in the Arena...like an obstacle.

"...However, there've been times in the past where I've seen effort compensate for weakness. Starting tomorrow, you and I ought to train a lot more. I guarantee you won't regret putting in the time." Hakuno opens her mouth, no words coming out. Was Archer...encouraging her? Despite it mostly being her fault that they were in this situation?

Archer refuses to say another word of the matter, and instead turns to the side. "...You should get some rest. We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow." The girl continues to stare blankly at Archer's large back, and as if he could sense her eyes on him, the man sighs and turns back to face her. "Look...don't blame yourself too much on this. It isn't exactly your fault that this happened anyway." Seeing that she was still unconvinced with his answer, the man adds, "We'll find out a solution to this problem...together. There's no need for you to worry so much. Like I said, focus on what's in the present."

With that, he turns his back on her again, going quiet. However, the words he said remain in her ears, and soon enough, the girl lies back onto the bed. He was right. There was no point in overthinking things right now. The girl could already feel the exhaustion taking over her body, and within minutes, her eyes began to close. But before she fell asleep, the girl manages to mutter, "Good night...Archer."

And within the haziness of her fading consciousness, she almost thought that Archer had replied back, the girl now fast asleep.


	14. The Round Table of Enemies

_The girl approaches the window, peering through it with curious eyes. Sitting across her is a man. His hands gently comb through the locks of her hair as he smiles._

 _"Now then, Hakuno, what have you learnt today?" The girl slowly turns her head to meet the man's eyes, her vision masked with a white distortion of static. "...That...war is bad...for mankind?"_

 _The man quietly laughs at her answer. "Well...not quite." His voice somehow feels distant to her ears, ringing like chimes against the wind,_ _before slowly fading out as white noise._

 _The girl now sees herself in darkness, a black void, falling towards the never-ending abyss be_ _low._

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

Hakuno's eyes flutter open, her ears greeted by the sound of a ticking clock. Slowly turning her head, she eyes the source against the wall across the room with a neutral expression, having now fully woken up. Sitting up, she allows the edges of the blanket to fall off her shoulders, greeting the cold air with a shiver.

Her pupils dart along the room, before they stay fixed at the man quietly resting on the throne of chairs. Hakuno watches him sleep, noting how his eyebrows eould knit together every now and then before they relaxed after a few seconds. That's right, yesterday she awoke to find that she was now a participant of the Holy Grail War...and this man was her servant.

It didn't take long before she saw him stirring, his eyes slowly opening before he properly sat up. The man, now awake, stares back at Hakuno, before a smirk appears on his features. "Good morning Master. I didn't know that you had a habit for staring at people while they slept."

A light tint appears on her cheeks as she realized her actions, looking down at her hands in mild embarassment. "Ah...well...I mean...," she stutters. The man lets out a chuckle at her reaction. "I'm kidding. You don't need to get so worked up over every little thing I say, Master."

Hakuno doesn't reply, and instead chooses to bit her bottom lip as she gets off the bed, not making eye contact with him. "I'll...be taking a shower now," was all she said as she brisk-walks into the bathroom, hearing the sound of Archer's chuckles behind her.

After getting ready, the two exit the room and make their way towards the cafeteria. Though Hakuno wasn't particularly hungry, she just felt like eating something at the moment. Reaching her destination, she sees a number of students either getting more supplies from the commissary or also getting food from the several food stalls that were open.

Taking a seat, Hakuno eyes the plate of chicken cutlet with curry and rice that she had just taken. Not the healthiest option to start the day but...it seemed filling enough. Grabbing a spoon, she barely manages to scoop a spoonful of rice when somehow takes a seat across her, setting down their tray of food. Looking up, she blinks in mild surprise at the person who had appeared before her. "Rin...??"

"Good morning Hakuno, hope you don't mind me sitting here," was her reply. "Ah...no...well...I'm just surprised that you're here." "Well, in here, even if you don't eat, your health is still maintained by the system. But I guess it's still a custom for quite a few of us." Eyeing her tray, it seems that Rin chose the omelette rice along with a cup of coffee, which seemed...slightly uncharacteristic of her.

"Huh, so you like curry? I do as well...though I can't see why you'd choose to eat something so spicy at this time of day," Rin comments, staring at Hakuno's food. "Oh...that's-" "No way, Hakuno...you actually survived?! And...Rin Tohsaka?! Don't tell me, you're both teaming up?!" came a voice behind her. Turning her head, she barely manages to register the being walking up to them angrily before the person slams their hand on the table.

Looking at the person's face, she recognizes his familiar, short but wavy blue-purple haircut, his violet dress shirt worn over the school's brown blazer...and his arrogant gaze. "S-Shinji?! You're a master as well?" she asks in shock. "I'm surprised Hakuno. To think that a moron like you could actually get through to the main tournament...it's a miracle at this point," Shinji says, his eyes glaring daggers at Rin.

Hakuno knew Shinji Matou back during the preliminaries, and while they were known as 'friends', most of their conversations revolved around Shinji boasting about how great he was, with Hakuno half-listening. In fact, it was funny how their relationship managed to even evolve into 'friendship' in the first place, possibly one of the 'Seven Wonders of the World' if she were to exaggerate it.

"Why...if it Asia's most prominent hacker? A little timid aren't we, Shinji Matou?" Rin asks, smiling. "H-How do you know who I am?" Shinji questions. "Simple. During the prelims I had a feeling and marked you in advance. But you participating in the war seemed oh so trivial. Hope that explanation puts you at ease," Rin replies, taking a bite out of her food. Hakuno watches the exchange awkwardly, even more surprised from finding out Shinji's status.

"Wha...how dare you speak to me like that?!" Shinji yells, earning the attention of those around them as several heads began turning to watch the conversation unfold. "Please look around you. This is a sufficiently large turnout for the Holy Grail War, and we aren't the ones here. I suggest you get off that high horse of yours and acknowledge the fact that there may be others with power equivalent or perhaps...stronger than yours, Matou-kun." Rin says all this calmly, without even flinching or blinking an eye despite all the stares she was getting, in which Hakuno had to silently applaud for her ability to do so.

Even so, as Rin said, all these people were here for the Holy Grail as well, to have their wish granted. "Um...not to interrupt anything but...regarding the Holy Grail, what exactly does it look like?" Sure, Archer mentioned the Holy Grail taking several forms in the past but, what form would this Holy Grail take then?

"I haven't seen the real thing, so I can't give you all the details, but its existence and the fact that it can grant any wish is something anyone would desire, right? At any rate, Western Europe has signed plutocrats to participate in the war and retrieve it, since the Holy Grail has an unfathomable amount of power lying dormant...that its own existence could shake the very fabric of this world," Rin explains.

Hakuno gulps; so everyone was fighting for this frighteningly powerful object. Somehow, it felt as if she had been thrown into a den full of lions, predators with their eyes set on claiming the grand prize, with nowhere to run but to face them head on in order to survive. That was the cruel, harsh reality that she was now living in.

"That's right. Which is why the Holy Grail has been placed here for us to control, Rin Tohsaka." Rin's eyes widen at the voice, as those in the area turned towards the one who spoke. Hakuno's eyes also widened at the person who was approaching their table. "L-Leo?!"

The young man gives a pleasant smile, bowing slightly. "Good day everyone. I hope you are all well and doing fine," he greets. Hakuno is dumbstruck at the sudden events that were occuring. She was already shocked at the fact that Shinji was a master and a high-ranked magus but...who would've thought that Leo would end up as a master in the war too! Leo looks over towards her, his beaming smile never leaving his features before he focuses his gaze onto Rin.

"Hmph, I knew that there would be people sent by the Europe's Plutocracy but...it's surprising even for me that their future leader would show up...Leonardo Bistario Harway," Rin spats, her voice full of venom. "Ahaha. Call me 'Leo', Tohsaka-san. It is a pleasure to finally meet you face to face. Your actions with the Harway's Asia branch puts me at a loss for words," he speaks.

"And here you are at the front lines. Isn't that nice? I hope you can repay your debt in heaven. I'm also having fun. And as for your servant just standing there, you think you got some sort of superiority complex?" Rin demands, pointing towards the tall man standing behind Leo. With short blond curly hair and white, shining armour, the man looked as though he was some sort of dashing knight in shining armour.

"Ah...I see, so you've taken interest in my servant. Gawain, why don't you introduce yourself?" Upon Leo's orders, the man walks forward and bows. "I am his servant, Gawain. Henceforth, you are all acquaintances of my master and seem like worthy opponents."

At this moment, practically everyone including Rin Tohsaka was shocked. Revealing your servant's identity was considered suicidal to a master as one could exploit that servant's strengths or weaknesses and use those against him, yet here was Leo, telling everyone his servant's true name as if it was common knowledge, and he was even still smiling!

"And as for you, Kishinami-san, I've taken great interest in you." Hakuno's body tenses up greatly upon her name being mentioned. "Huh? W-Who me?" she asks meekly. "Yes. In what state of affairs were you able to survive and make a contract? From what I was told, you possessed no knowledge of magecraft during the preliminaries, yet here you are, now a master in this Holy Grail War. Why is that?" he questions, drawing closer towards her. "Erm...well...that's-"

"Why you...don't ignore me!" Hakuno is pulled out of her thoughts as she turns to see an angry Shinji, now fuming with irritation to a point where she could almost see smoke coming out of his ears and his hair ablaze. "You interrupted me! I don't know who you Harways are but don't get cocky! The person who's gonna win this war in the end is me!" By then, all the commotion was enough to earn of the attention of everyone in the room. "...Well, how rude of me. I am terribly sorry, for I did not know that our conversation would make you that upset. What is your name?" Leo questions.

Straw meets camel's back. Enraged, Hakuno could see from the corner of her eye that Shinji's command seals were glowing red. "Damn you! You'll pay for messing with me!" As soon as those words were said, a flash of light appears from the ground as Hakuno winced, shutting her eyes.

She could hear collective gasps around her as she opens her eyes a moment later, her eyes coming into contact with a tall woman who had appeared from nowhere. With messy, long pink hair and sea-blue eyes, the woman wore a matching long pink button-up coat which barely covered her chest, with light grey tights and dark brown boots, a long scar over her facial features. It didn't take a genius to figure out that she was a servant, judging from the raw power that was emanating from her.

Upon being summoned, the woman clicks her tongue in annoyance. "I hope you have a good reason for summoning me Shinji, 'cause I'm in a foul mood," she says, frowning. "It doesn't matter! You'll get your reward later, so just hurry up take care of him! Thrash that servant already!" Shinji roars, pointing at Gawain. "Hmph, I'll remember those words!"

With a smirk, the servant raises her hands in the air, summoning what appears to be a pair of old-fashioned pistols. Alarmed, Rin stands from her seat. "Idiot, in a place like this...!" Her cry is completely ignored however, as Shinji's servant comes charging at incredible speed towards Leo's servant.

Gawain barely has time to summon his own sword before he deflects a few bullets fired by the servant. "Hoh, not bad! You've got good reflexes!" the servant grins as she fires a few more rounds at him. Everyone continues to watch the battle unfold before them as Gawain continues to deflect and slice apart the bullets with his sword.

Hakuno lets out a yelp, backing away as a stray bullet lands on their table by her plate. Staring at the two servants worriedly, she quickly turns to Rin for help. "Rin, we've gotta do something to stop them!" Rin gives Hakuno a sideways glance, before looking onwards towards the two servants, making no motion to intervene.

Bewildered, Hakuno begins to look around, noticing how the other masters around them weren't doing anything. Instead, all she saw were their intense stares, as if they were gathering intel on the two servants who could potentially become their next opponents.

Meanwhile, Shinji's servant had jumped atop one of the tables, firing a few bullets towards Gawain's exposed back. However, almost as if Gawain had anticipated this, he twists his body and deflects the bullets back towards her. Jumping to the side, the woman barely manages to intercept Gawain as he runs towards her and rams his blade towards her shoulder.

Distancing herself, she eyes the wound calmly. "Well well...aren't you feisty for a mere knight," she cackles, dashing towards Gawain before giving him a good kick towards his torso, sending him back by a few feet before she begins shooting once again. "...It's useless Master. There's no merit in going between these two. In fact, I'd recommend that you watch them and try to get as much intel while you still can," Archer quietly says, while still in astral form. "But-"

 _"That is enough. Stop this fighting at once, you two."_ A firm voice resonates throughout the cafeteria as everyone turned their heads to the source. "F-Father Kotomine?" Hakuno chokes out in surprise, feeling sort of relieved that he had arrived as her tensed shoulders relaxed. The two servants, upon noticing his presence, quickly withdrew their weapons and returned to their servants side.

Kotomine quietly walks towards their table, his shoes clicking against the floor. "I've already allowed you to have your fun during the preliminaries. Now that we're in the main tournament, players must show self-control and not get into prohibited brawls outside of real fights," he says firmly. "Butt out of this!" Shinji yells, earning a cold glare from him in return. "...And what do we have here? A young man who simply cannot hold back his bloodlust?"

Walking towards Shinji, Kotomine continues to stare at him with those dull, dead-looking eyes of his. "I am Father Kotomine, this Holy Grail War's supervision officer and facility NPC. You and your opponent's decisive battle has not approached yet. When that day comes, you may kill each other to your heart's content," Kotomine replies.

Hushed murmurs were heard as Shinji glares at Leo. "Tch! You just escaped death by a hair! Remember that Leo!" With that, his servant dematerializes as Shinji storms off upstairs.

"Ah...before I forget, Hakuno, your opponent will be notified this afternoon," Kotomine says after a moment. "O-Oh...ok." Hakuno could've sworn that Kotomine was giving her a creepy glance as he too begins walking back upstairs a moment later, not another word to be said.

"Hmph, gotta give it to that old man for disrupting a good fight," Rin curses under her breath, crossing her arms over her chest. Hakuno doesn't know how to react at this point, with so much already occuring that morning, instead choosing to let out a sigh just as her felt her terminal vibrate in her pocket with a notification that classes were about to start in a few minutes.


	15. The First Opponent

Soon enough, classes for that morning came to an end, and Hakuno is seen prowling around the hallways anxiously. With some time to spare, she doesn't exactly know what to do in this situation.

Sure, she had considered the option of entering the library and looking up on Leo's servant, but apparently every other master who had seen the epic battle this morning also had the same idea, to a point where the library was jam-packed with people. The girl didn't bother trying to wrestle her way through to try and obtain any history-related books on him, so she figured to come later in the afternoon or after she returned from the Arena...if the library was still open around that time that is.

Walking around the school's compound, she notices a nostalgic-looking item outside by the school's gardens; the vending machines. Back during the preliminaries, she would often buy their green tea infused strawberry milk. A weird combination yes, but she liked the taste of it no less.

Taking out her terminal, she looks at the price of a carton of the milk. "Hmm...20ppt, quite cheap when compared to the items sold at the commissary." Punching in a few numbers and pressing a button, she hears the sound of the carton falling onto the latch. Taking it out, she pokes the straw through it and takes a few sips, reminded by its familiar flavour and taste.

"I know that it's easy to earn money through defeating enemy programs in the Arena, but I'd advise you to not waste your money, Master," Archer advises, sighing as his master plops down onto a nearby bench, looking over at the blooming flowers. "Ok...but it can't hurt to drink one of these every one and then now, can it?" was what she intended to reply when she realized that she wasn't the only one there with her servant.

"Why...if it isn't Hakuno. As usual, you drink some of the strangest things." "Shinji..." The man walks over, smirking as he sits down by the bench next to her, taking a sip of his own drink; it seems that he purchased the grape soda. "So you're also a mage. I couldn't feel your presence so I almost forgot about you," he says. Hakuno sweatdrops; she had almost forgotten his habit of insulting people without a care in the world. "Is...is that so?"

"Jeez, the heinous preliminaries were a pain to get through though. And in order to dwindle down the competition, they had the participants do some crazy hunting back in that final room. And me, being the naturally gifted person I am, made it!" Hakuno recalled the time when that effigy began attacking her. So that was the reason why it was able to function without an owner?

"A few years back there was a rumour floating around...something about a "Holy Grail" that could grant any wish, with the organization in possession of it, the SE.RA.PH. I searched the web until I found it. Though various computers we can dive into that looks as real as possible, it's still all made up. So...does that mean that there's a server on the Moon or something?" At this point, Hakuno couldn't really tell if he was talking to her or just voicing out his thought aloud to himself, but she listens on anyway.

"Right here...this is the highest thrill." With a wave of his fingers, something resembling a virtual computer pops up in front of him, displaying several charts and lists of people on the screen, causing Hakuno to gasp in wonder. "That's...a pretty terrifying thing to say," she mutters a moment later.

"I mean...that's the basics of the basics. Check out this list. All of these people from our class during the prelims were potential master candidates, but now more than half of them are NPCs. What's more interesting is that the SE.RA.PH seems to have an administrative puppet in the student council," Shinji explains, his grin widening. She eyes the list of people, some of which she had seen...dead in the final room. Gulping, she takes a step back.

How could Shinji act so calm and happy like this? Did he feel no remorse or sadness seeing his classmates that have died? It was almost as if...he looked to be having fun? Despite the life or death situation that they all were stuck in? And that administrative puppet...he couldn't mean Issei, could he?

"...Alright, this is it! From here on out, what's at stake is the Holy Grail! The other masters may have started this tournament, but I'll be the one to win it!" Hakuno goes shocked at his bold declaration as he stands, giving her a pitiful look. "Shinji...you couldn't mean..."

"I mean...my servant is the strongest, so there's no way I'd lose! And on top of that, I can trick the NPC data so they can become emotionally attached to me. Just think...with only a couple of routines, I can overwrite important data and this war will be a cake walk!" With a snap of his fingers, two NPC girls appear behind him, appearing motionless as they stared at him and Hakuno blankly.

In that moment, Hakuno realized how terrifying the war was. That's right...they were all fighting in this war to win. Even a kind person...like Nagisa...could become the worst opponent just to obtain the Holy Grail...and that frightened her just thinking about it. They would do anything to win...to survive...even if that meant their friends or those dear to them, and Shinji was the clear testimony for that.

With another wave of his fingers, the computer vanishes into thin air as he begins walking back towards the school building, with the two girls following closely behind him. "Well then, I'm off to have a little fun. See ya Hakuno, if you survive that is!" he laughs. Hakuno watches him until he leaves, before she lets out a breath of relief that she didn't even knowshe was holding in.

It was then that she heard her terminal beeping. Taking it out, she eyes the text displayed on the screen reluctantly: _The next combatants will be announced on the second floor's bulletin board._ So this was what Kotomine was talking about.

A combatant announcement...this must mean who she was going to battle one-on-one with. As much as she tried to escape it, it seems that there was no running away from the truth. Standing up, she walks over to the bin to dispose of her carton, unaware that her hand had been crushing it during the entire conversation with Shinji before she walks back inside.

Walking down the long hallway to get upstairs almost felt like torture. All she wanted to do was return to her private room and pretend like this was all just a long, bad dream, but even she knew that she had to face it sooner or later. Reaching the second floor, she turns and takes a few steps towards the bulletin board, her eyes slowly going up to read the what was posted on the dreaded white piece of paper.

Upon looking at it, she sees two names, of which is her own...and the other one-

 _Master: Shinji Matou_

 _Battlefield: First Chimeric Lunar Sea_

Her eyes go wide in horror; Wait...no, this had to be some sort of mistake. Rubbing her eyes, she looks back up on the board to see if she had read wrong. No, the names were still there...then that means-

"Hmph...figures. Who would've thought that we'd meet this soon. So you're my first opponent? I mentioned this morning but, I'm nothing but surprised that you managed to even qualify. " Swiftly turning her head, she barely manages to register the being that came over at some point during her initial shock and was currently standing two feet away from her. He looks over at the names, before smirking at her.

"But I guess here, all things are possible. Hey, you might even be the most strongest magus there is. We're at different levels even though we're friends. Still, I should congratulate you." Hakuno doesn't react to his comments, overwhelmed that the situation she was facing as Shinji pats her hard on the shoulder.

"Hey, didn't you just barely squeak through the prelims? I guess you're a charity case. Being mediocre has its advantages. You get these handicaps and whatnot. Oh, but keep in mind that this tournament is all about true strength, so don't get too overconfident." Shinji continues to ramble on, yet his voice feels distant to her ears.

Shinji steps back, placing a hand to his forehead as he laughs. "And the guys running this are geniuses. Just look how intense and first round is. Come on, I meam forcing people to give up friendships in orded to win? That's pretty insane." The guy says all this whilst ignoring the fact that Hakuno was still staring at him in shock, barely registering any of his words.

"Oh, what a cruel mistress fate can be, right? Even I, the strongest master here, is pained by this." After that little outburst, Shinji plasters on a plastic smile and gives her a solid slap on the back, snapping her out of her trance.

"Well, let's keep things clean, ok? It should be a good fight. After all, you're a master too. When we see each other again, it'll be as enemies. Don't let our former friendship hold you back!" With that, he promptly walks away, with Hakuno unable to look back at him as he does so, her legs pinned to the floor.

...She has to fight Shinji and her servant. No matter how many times she repeats herself, those words fail to register in her brain. Does that mean that she has to kill him, a fellow human being, when she has no clue as to why?

This whole situation has fast become a nightmare. If she was in a bad dream, she wanted to wake up...now. Shinji is making light of the situation but...why does she feel like she's trapped in a living Hell?

"Master...? You ok?" She blinks, snapping her head towards the voice of her servant, the man staring at her with raised eyebrows. "You've been spacing off for some time now, y'know? Are you feeling alright?" he asks. "...I-"

In that moment, the bell goes off, and at the same time, her terminal beeps with another notification of classes starting in a few minutes. Hakuno looks down at her shoes, troubled at how she was going to deal with this huge dilemma. "...It's nothing. Let's head back to class."

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

By the time classes had ended, Hakuno's mind was in a turmoil; she couldn't focus on what Taiga had been teaching at all. Just the thought of having to face Shinji and his servant by the end of the week had her sweating with tension. Sure, he had a ton of flaws and she disliked his attitude since they met but that didn't mean that she wanted to kill him.

Sighing, she gets up from her seat only to have her terminal ring once again. Taking it out, she eyes the message that appeared on it: _The primary cipher key has been generated._ She tilts her head to the side. Primary cipher key? What was that supposed to be? Well...it's definitely a key of some kind...

For some reason, her mind flashes back to that priest. Though reluctant, it would probably be a good idea nonetheless to ask Kotomine about the messages she received via her terminal. After all, he did say that participants have the right to ask about any of the basic rules of the tournament.

She walks over to the door, about to exit the classroom when she feels something ram against her body at full force. Staggering, she lets out a gasp before her eyes come in contact with none other than Nagisa. "Hey Hakuno! I heard that you've already been informed of your opponent! So who is it?" Nagisa smiles.

Hakuno looks away from the girl. Should she tell her? I mean...she did have option not to but, there couldn't be any risks in telling others who her opponent was, right? After all, she'd feel bad not telling her, seeing how Nagisa was eyeing her eagerly. "It's...Shinji Matou."

At the mention of his name, Nagisa's jaw drops...possibly due to shock. "Ah...I see. So you're going up against that guy, huh? He's really strong. There's a reason why he's such a famous hacker." This deflates Hakuno a little as she takes a step back. "Oh...but...!"

Taking ahold of her hand, Nagisa gives Hakuno a serious stare. "...I'll be wishing you good luck! Sure, he may be tough as an opponent and all but, I do hope that you win Hakuno!" In that moment, all Hakuno could feel was surprised. She...was not expecting her to say that. Nagisa...wanted her to win?

Somehow, Hakuno felt as though Nagisa's words were some sort of motivation, an encouragement, like she was telling her not to give up, like she still had a chance. Unexpectedly, the corners of Hakuno's lips curled upwards to form a smile. "...Thanks Nagisa. I appreciate that."

Just as she left, a question pops up in her head. "By the way, who's your opponent for this round?" "...? My opponent? It's Leo." Hakuno froze, stopping in her tracks as she recalled the fight that occurred in the cafeteria this morning. There was no doubt about it...Leo's servant was strong, and even Leo seemed like a strong magus as well.

"I know he's strong. But...I'm not gonna go down that easily!" Hakuno blinks at Nagisa's determination, even more surprised at her positivity. "I mean...I'm not sure how well my servant strength stands up to his but...I have no intentions of losing of him! So...you should do your best too Hakuno!" Hakuno is at a loss for words, her smile widening. For just a while...it felt as though she stood a fighting chance against Shinji.

"...Yeah, I'll do that." "Good! Well, I'd better get going! I have a ton of training to do in the Arena!" Waving with a huge grin on her face, Nagisa walks off, with Hakuno watching her back. It felt weird but...the girl couldn't help but be envious of Nagisa, wishing that she was just as positive as her.

Exiting the classroom, she immediately sees Kotomine on sight, the priest lingering on the second floor. Walking over, she taps him on the shoulder to get his attention as he turns. "Ah, the young master, what great timing. I have a few things to say to you before you enter the Arena." Something to say? Was it regarding the message she received earlier?

"Earlier, the computer registered that the Primary Trigger had been generated, did it not? Two triggers must be retrieved by the end of this week, if you mean to participate in the tournament," he explains. Ah, so it was some type of requirement. However, Hakuno still didn't know what these 'triggers' were. "Triggers?"

"A trigger, or cipher key, is a key to the Coliseum- and a way to cull weak masters." Somehow, it seemed as though she's heard something phrased similarly like that before. Was everyone around her trying to hint something?

"All masters were required to obtain them during the course of the preparation period. Fail to obtain the triggers in allotted time and it will be...gave over...as it were." Game over...in other words, failure to do so would mean deletion by the system. Hakuno gulps, her mind spiralling onto the possibilities of not being able to complete the task.

"Don't look so worried. It's a simple task to prove that you're ready for the Elimination Battle." A simple task...he claims it to be so but, Hakuno doubted that it would be that easy. However, seeing that all masters were also required to do the same, she had to make sure to obtain them.

On another note, Kotomine did mention that two triggers were required...though she had only been informed of one. "Two triggers?" "The Arena itself will be divided into two floors. And one trigger, or cipher key, is generated per floor. So obviously, that results in two per match-up. It's the job of the master to go and retrieve these cipher keys. For convenience, everyone refers to them as Primary Trigger and Secondary Trigger. You will be notified through your portable computer terminal when a trigger generates." Ah, so that means that the second trigger would only be notified later. "I see, thanks."

"Oh, and just another reminder before you go. Combat is strictly prohibited between masters in the Arena and on campus at all times. If for some reason, a fight occurs, the system will shut it down. As a penalty, the status of any master caught fighting on campus will be downgraded." This important fact raises another question in her head. Did that mean that Leo and Shinji's statuses were downgraded after the fight in the cafeteria this morning?

"Well, no; I let them off after a fair warning. It's only the second day of the first round after all. However, should there be any more fights occurring around campus before the Elimination battles, those masters will be dealt with appropriately." Hakuno nods, taking this to mind...which meant that she should try to stay away from Shinji at all times whilst on campus just in case. After seeing how short-tempered he was this morning, the last thing she needed was to get into a brawl with him.

With no more to ask, Hakuno thanks Kotomine and quietly leaves to the first floor...only to run straight into her opponent, much to her dismay. Shinji, like usual, throws her that dislikable smirk of his as he begins rambling on.

"Hey there Hakuno. Going to get the trigger? Well, it sucks to be you. 'Cause I'm going in right now too. A total cretin like you won't be able to find it, but good luck anyway. Hahaha!" Ok, what in her right mind made her think...for even a moment, that she was friends with this rude jerk? Hakuno resists the urge to possibly give him a good slap across the face to wipe off that smirk of his as he walks off, still laughing.

"...Wow. I guess the old saying about leopards not changing their spots is true after all." Hakuno doesn't even want to comment, instead internally sighing; was Archer seriously going to start conversing on this? Of him and his attitude of all things?

The servant however, follows up with an unexpected suggestion. "Whatever the case, this might be a good chance for you to practice. Hurry, let's go after him." Practice? What did Archer mean by that? Surely he didn't mean sparring with Shinji's servant or anything, especially after Kotomine's warning...right?

Nevertheless, Hakuno decides to follow her servant's advice, and heads down the hallway towards the Arena, a sense of dread and unease lingering in her. Somehow, the girl felt like a bad premonition was approaching; something was definitely going to happen when they got inside the Arena...and it wasn't gonna be great for either of the two.


	16. Annoyingly Strong Foe

Upon entering the Arena, Hakuno could definitely sense that something was off. The surrounding air was strangely tense, and the girl almost found it hard to breathe. Every fiber of her being was on high alert, telling her to be cautious with each step that she took, her heart throbbing uncomfortably against her chest in anxiety.

However, she wasn't the only one highly paranoid. The man who had appeared near to her looked around, his eyebrows creasing to form a scowl. "Ugh...I sense a thick amount of prana, and even the air's full of it. This presence...be careful Master. This idiot and his servant are close by. We should proceed with caution."

Archer didn't need to say it twice for her to understand. Hakuno gulps, unaware that beads of sweat were beginning to form on her forehead as she recalled how powerful Shinji's servant was just from those few minutes of battle she witnessed earlier this morning against Leo's servant.

Should they run into each other, would Archer even stand a chance against her? I mean...she didn't wanna doubt his strength, but after what Archer had told her about her lack of experience as a Master hindering his abilities, she was feeling more than just worried. In fact, she was already sweating bullets just thinking of what might happen!

"...But, then again, this might be a golden opportunity to get some info on them. Let's track them down before they leave." Hakuno's eyes go wide with terror, and she finds that she is unable to keep her mouth shut in such a situation. "Are you crazy?! What part of 'proceed with caution' did you yourself not understand?! Didn't you see how strong Shinji's servant was this morning?!"

Archer looks at her, raising an eyebrow at her outburst. "Master, if we let this chance go, we may never be able to obtain information on Shinji and his servant before the Elimination Battle." He had a fair point, but Hakuno wasn't going to risk his life much less her own in appearing before him blindly without some plan of action...in case Shinji went bonkers and commanded his servant to attack them on sight.

The male shakes his head, sighing. "It's good that you worry, but you're overthinking things. For all we know, Shinji may even just let us off after some taunting, since the priest already lectured him this morning." Yeah, she couldn't help but doubt that; Shinji wasn't the type who liked to be bossed around anyway. Knowing him, he'd probably ignore all reason and just order his servant to kill them off.

She crosses her arms over her chest, not convinced. "At any rate...we can't just...march on before them without some plan. What do you intend to do if that woman really attacks? You may be fine with it, but I'm not...especially knowing you're going to be risking your life for both of us!"

Her eyes flickered to look at him for a brief moment before she looks back down at her feet. She doesn't raise her head, not wanting to make eye contact with him. Yes, call it her selfish naivety, wity the he action probably seeming childish to one's eyes, but Hakuno was feeling very conflicted.

Ever since she woke up and found out that she was forced to participate in this damned war, the girl felt as if she was just being pushed around...and that everything was forcing itself on her without her consent. In all honesty, she felt tired of the whole situation. Winning the Holy Grail? Killing or be killed...? She didn't want to ponder on such things. What she wanted was a normal school life, yet she she was, taking part in this madness.

Archer doesn't speak at first, also remaining silent. What he does however, is something one wouldn't anticipate. Archer slowly brings up a hand, patting her on the head. Hakuno, through the bangs of her hair, sees Archer with a solemn expression on his face. "...Archer...?"

"Like I said, I'm glad that you show concern. But...if things go on like this all the time, we won't go anywhere." Ruffling the top of her head gently, he continues. "If we do run into Shinji and he decides to attack us, the system will terminate the fight within a few minutes. And though my abilities at the moment may not match up to hers...I have confidence that we can at least withstand that servant until the system deactivates the fight." "...And what happens if you fail to do so?"

"Well, when that happens, I'll just pick you up and make a mad dash for the exit." Archer says all this in a slightly playful but confident manner, as if cheering up his master. Hakuno bites on her lower lip, unsure of whether to trust his words.

"You have to believe in me, Master. Though it's only been a day or two since we've met, I'm your servant now...and you're my Master. Either way, we're stuck with working together." Hakuno musters the courage to look up at him by then, her eyes staring at his as she thought back to how they first met in the final room.

Right...he was _her_ servant. Right from the beginning, when she was on the ground begging for help, begging to be saved...he was the servant who answered her call. And even if they didn't know much about one another, what he did demonstrate since their meeting was that he was willing to help...and that much was certain.

...Archer was right. Mopping around would get them nowhere. Now that she was a Master as well, she needed to gear up and start acting the part. Nodding her head slowly, she lightly tugs on her wrist, as if reassuring herself. "...Ok." Archer doesn't smile back at her, but instead gives her one last pat on the head before he withdraws his hand to his side. "...Then let's get going Master."

Whilst walking along the empty path which lead them to the revival fountain, Archer pipes up. "Oh, and...if you're wondering, a lot of random can and will happen in the Arena. Since you can only enter the Arena once a day, make sure you thoroughly explore it before exiting." A weird reminder to give at a time like this...yet Hakuno felt as though he, in a way, was trying to lighten the mood.

Upon running into several enemy programs along the way, Hakuno could sense that the source of prana was getting stronger as they searched further into the Arena. It was then that she saw his back, with his servant next to him. The air was heavily condensed with prana to a point where she felt nauseous.

"That idiot and his servant- I knew they'd show up here. You'll sometimes see other masters in the Arena. While we can't exactly predict how these meetings will play out, we can perhaps get some insight on their strategy." Archer says all this calmly, yet Hakuno could see that his hands were clenched into fists, prepared to summon his swords at any time.

There was certainly no going back now, especially after coming this far. Gulping, she slowly walks towards him, careful not to get his attention when he turns, their eyes meeting. Her body involunatrily stiffens, and she stops, just a feet or two away from the boy.

Shinji shakes his head, giving her a smug grin. "Hakuno, you're late. While you were crawling around like the slug you are, I obtained the trigger!" Hakuno gives Shinji a hardened glare. Him and his cocky attitude; how she wished she could give him a good punch across the jaw. Then again, he had already managed to obtain the trigger.

"Hahaha. What's with that look? Your skills are pathetic compared to mine, so don't be harsh on yourself! And speaking of losing, let me introduce you to my servant...though I'm pretty sure you've seen her in action thid morning." His servant glances over at her, hardly giving so much as a smirk or a smile before she turns away, looking somewhat disinterested with the conversation.

"If you can't get your cipher keys, you might as well accept your game over right here and now! Seriously, feel free to turn them into a bullet-ridden corpse whenever you fee like it!" Shinji continues, gesturing towards the woman. Ugh, she was beginning to feel tired hearing Shinji run his mouth off. Even his servant didn't seem keen on participating in this roast fest of his.

The woman places a hand on her hip, giving a crooked smirk. "Ok, but are you sure you're done gloating? Because I found myself enjoying your meaningless chatter. As you can see, when it comes to talking to others, my master is a total social retard, right?" she asks, pointing her finger at him while her eyes were directed at the other pair.

...Hold on, did she just...insult him?

Hakuno stares at his servant wide-eyed, unsure of how to react as she goes on. "Seeing him actually having a conversation with you, I thought we could settled this peacefully." Shinji looks just as horrified and confused as her from his servant's comments. No...the more accurate description would be that he looked disgusted...and angry...as to be expected.

"Where in the hell do you get off analyzing me?! They are the enemy! Will you hurry up and maim them already?!" The woman gives out a hearty laugh at his childish reaction as he stomps his foot. "Look at the tough guy! I have to admit, I admire the fact that you're evil enough to give your friend a beat down!"

Hakuno didn't know her eyes could widen any further until the woman summons her pistols, cackling. "The darkness of your grubby little soul is impressive Shinji. Oh yes, I expect a generous reward later!" Shinji's servant flashes a sinister grin, indicating that battle was unavoidable at this point. "Hang on...we-"

As soon as those words were said, she feels a hand grab onto her shoulder before she is forcibly yanked back, almost falling over while barely being able to register the red blur that is her servant speeding towards the woman, swords already summoned in hand before he attacks.

His swords drive a devastating blow, aiming for his enemy's heart when Shinji's servant dives to the right, his swords burying into the floor instead. "Whoa, look who's all fired up! Can't wait to fight me already, Mr. Handsome?" she whistles, her smirk growing wider with each passing second. "Hmph, I had hoped to catch you by surprise but...it seems that I missed," Archer replies, clicking his tongue at his failure.

"Haha, I like the sound of that! Now, let's fight! Show me what you got!" In that moment, a blue field of data stretches over the perimeter, enveloping the four as the girl found herself in an unknown, open space. Drawing her eyes over to the two servants, she sees Shinji's servant dashing towards him before she begins firing several bullets at random directions, all aimed towards his vital parts.

Archer manages to slice or deflect a few of them off, some nicking him here and there as he struggles to keep him with the insane speed of her bullets. Shinji's servant continues firing, not even needing to stop to reload her weapons. "What's the matter?! Come on and attack me!" she laughs, a crazed look in her eyes. Hakuno clenches her hands into fists; there was no way she could possibly interrupt their fight with her acting that way. Gulping, she watches the fight worriedly; wasn't there anything she could possibly do?!

Archer continues to parry all of her attacks as he begins running towards him, raising his swords above his head before nailing an attack. The servant intercepts with both of her pistols, the two locking weapons. Archer withdraws his swords and attempts to kick her, only to be shot in the shoulder as Shinji's servant back away, distancing herself from him. Archer glares at her, surprisingly calm despite the fact that he was now gripping onto his injured shoulder.

All of a sudden, Hakuno sees chains sprout from the ground as they bounded Archer to the floor, preventing him from moving about. The man curses aloud as he attempts to cut the chains that bounded him whilst defending himself from the woman, obviously showing signs that he was favouring his uninjured side to deflect most of the bullets now. Hakuno's eyes grow wider than saucers as she twists her head towards Shinji, she sees him standing perfectly still, the overly smug smile still present on his face, a virtual computer in front of him.

"Heheh...can't have you moving around too much now, can we? Finish him off!" he orders. "Aww, and just when I was about to have some fun. ...Well, not that it matters; I'll just settle this and get my reward-"

A loud siren blares loudly throughout the Arena, tearing through the tension, the blue space turning into a red field as everyone halted. Hakuno looks up, totally confused by the sudden turn of events. "What the-"

A voice tears through her confusion. _"A message from the SE.RA.PH: Confrontation between masters in the Arena are prohibited. Hostilities will be terminated."_ Terminating hostilities? Did that mean that the SE.RA.PH was putting an end to the fight? Was this what Kotomine meant?

As soon as it came, the red field vanishes, replaced with the now familiar walls and floors of the Arena before the fight had begun. Shinji's servant returns to her master's side, with him tapping his forehead in annoyance. "Crap...it looks like the SE.RA.PH has its eye on us." He eyes Hakuno with a glare, but it is soon exchanged with an ominous smile.

"Oh well, there's no need to take her out right now anyway. You know, I like seeing you grovel in the dirt like trash. Beg hard enough and I might even make you my underling!" "Shinji...you...!" His virtual computer disappears as he stuffs his hands in the pockets of his pants. "Who knows...I might even share some of the prize money with you. Hahahaha!"

With that, Shinji vanishes, and so do the chains holding down Archer's feet. Hakuno wastes no time in running over to check on him. "Archer! Are you alright?!" Well, he was clearly not...seeing him grip onto his shoulder like that.

Archer looks at her, rather calm than she had expected. "I'm fine...mostly. Though it would be nice if you could heal me," he says after a moment, his swords vanishing from his hands as he prods his shoulder, taking out the bullet from his wound a moment later. Nodding, she takes out a bag of ether powder, scooping up a handful as she gently applies it onto his scratches, before she focuses on his shoulder.

Archer winces upon the powder making contact with his wound, but otherwise says nothing else throughout the entire treatment. "...Sorry," Hakuno says softly. "Huh? Why are you apologizing?" "No...I mean...I was useless the entire time, and you ended up getting hurt as well..."

Archer looks away, staring at the ground. "Ah, that? This is nothing much actually. I've suffered wounds way worse than this back when I was still alive." "That...but you told me that we'd run away if anything were to happen! You didn't have to get yourself hurt just because we needed intel on them!"

"I did say that...but I never mentioned that I wouldn't cross paths with his servant." "...Even after I told you that I'm not ok with you getting hurt?" Archer blinks, his pupils flickering over to see Hakuno with a pained expression.

"Master...I thought we've already established this. I am your servant, and-" "I know that! Yet at the same time, you are risking your life for me!" Hakuno interrupts, taking in a shuddering breath. "...I...don't like it. The idea of you getting hurt every time we go out for battle like this...just for a complete stranger...don't you find it ridiculous as well?" She lowers her head, letting her bangs obstruct her eyes.

"...Why would you...answer my summons anyway? For a stranger like me? A person who's a total novice, a person who's clueless and isn't even motivated to win...a person who can't even provide support for you on the battlefield even as you get hurt?" Her voice sounds strained, and she doesn't bother looking at him, her eyes directly pathetically to the floor.

What else can she say? She was useless the entire time. Forget about fighting, all she did was stand like a deer in headlights, too scared to do anything. She was a coward.

Time goes on silently, with the tension enough to break a stick in half. "...Master, do you remember the first time we met? In that room?" Hakuno numbly nods, indicating that she was at least listening to him. "...When I appeared, you were on the ground, begging to be rescued from death. Though it was only for that moment, I saw the determination in your eyes." Archer lets himself pause, and Hakuno could tell that he was staring at her to see her reaction.

"The determination to live, to go on, to not allow death to claim her life. That was what I saw." Tugging on her arm, he forces her to look up at him. "Do you understand? You're here in this war for a reason, and I answered your call because of it. So don't jump to conclusions that you're useless. You just need more time to train."

Hakuno's mouth opens before she shuts it a moment later. She was here for a reason? What was he trying to say?

Archer doesn't say anything else, and after a few minutes, his injuries are gone, and Archer's face returns to being the same, stoic expression. "Anyway, that was a close call. Although dangerous, the encounter was certainly educational as we now know that his servant uses guns as her main weapon." His eyebrows knit together to form a frown, as if recalling how that woman fought earlier.

"I'm not sure by any means, but based from the fight this morning and after fighting against her, her class may be Archer, just like me...if she's using a projectile weapon that is." He managed to deduce her class just from that alone? And while it may not exactly be concrete, the enemy servant did seem fitting to be in the Archer class from the way she wielded those pistols.

"...? Why are you surprised? By combing through the Arena, you'll not only find info on your opponent, but also find ways to gain an advantage. A good strategy is the key to success here. You'll do well to keep that in mind." To think that he was analyzing her movements and fighting style during those few minutes of conflict...even Hakuno was surprised, her depressed mood somewhat subsiding. "I...I guess you're right."

"As long as you follow my lead, all will be well. This war is also a race against time you see. Chances are that we may not see the enemy again tomorrow. Some info is only available on certain days, so we should try to hit the Arena every day." Hitting the Arena every day...that did sound like a good idea. To think that just a minute ago, Archer was injured and covered in scratches. In fact, the man seems eager to start fighting enemy programs so to speak.

"Well then, shall we get going? That idiot may have already left, but you still need to get your training done, and we still need to find the trigger too." It was at that moment that her terminal rings, a high pitched sound emanating from it. Taking the device out, she sees some text displayed on it: _'Servant Matrix Information Level 1- Enemy servant info obtained'._ Matrix level? Did that mean that she had gotten some useful intel on that woman?

"It seems that the terminal has recognized it as useful unformation. Information obtained on your opponent will give us the definite edge in the Eliminination Battles. However, that doesn't mean that we can win from that alone. We'd best start training and get ourselves prepped for this war."

Back to business it seems, not that she minded. She could always review the information when they returned to their private room later. On the other hand, after watching the battle earlier, Hakuno knew that she had her work cut out for her.

...And she needed to cope fast, to make sure that she's of some use the next time she and Shinji were to cross paths again.

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Upon exploring the Arena for the day, Hakuno eventually discovered Taiga's missing kendo sword, which unexpectedly happened to be placed inside an item folder. "It's frugal, but I didn't think I'd be collecting coins as a servant," was what Archer commented, picking the bamboo sword up awkwardly. Was this Shinji's work? I mean...he did have the abilities to hack into the system and all. Then again, there were 128 participants in the Holy Grail War...so it could've been the work of anyone.

Upon defeating one of the bee-type enemy programs, Hakuno stumbles upon a bright red coloured scarf, with a hue of orange and yellow tracing the edges and corners. The girl gently grabs it and stares at the item curiously. Could this be one of Taiga's lost items as well? Judging from the colour itself, it seemed like something Taiga would wear.

"Formal wear huh? I'd have to thank you for grabbing a set." Turning her head, she eyes her servant with a look of confusion. "Most formal wear is infused with powerful special abilities also known as code casts, though it's use is only limited to inside of Arena and during Elimination Battles. But of course you'd have to equip it first to see what skills are there. For now, you should probably try entering its code onto your terninal."

Upon entering the code onto her terminal, a small window pops up, showing the formal craft's properties. _Phoenix scarf: heals minor damage done to a servant._ Ah...it so was like those equipment you see in video games. Pretty helpful considering that Hakuno didn't know a whiff of magic.

It took Hakuno roughly 4 more hours of exploring before she finally stumbled across the trigger, the item kept in a shining green item folder. She takes ahold of it, the item having a metallic glint and weighed quite a bit as she held it up in the air. "So this is the trigger. Kotomine said that there were two of them per round, so don't forget the second one, otherwise we won't be able to take part in the Elimination battle by the end of the week. That, and I'd advise you to input that into your terminal as well."

Nodding, Hakuno does as what she's told, and the trigger soon disappears into ger terminal, with a message popping onto the screen a moment later: " _Obtained- Trigger Code Alpha"._ So the terminal allows her to check up on whether she's obtained both or not...what a nice little feature.

With their task done and her body sore from running around, the two mutually agreed to retire for the day.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

After returning from a long day of training and running about, Hakuno is ready to fall asleep, but not before reviewing her information. "...Since I'm a warrior myself, if I know the enemy's tactics, I'll be able to strike back soundly." Archer suddenly says this, causing Hakuno to look up from the terminal.

"What I'm trying to say is...now that you've got the jist of getting information, think you can pick up more tomorrow?" Ah, so he meant that she had to do more investigation on their opponent. "I'll...do my best."

While the idea of learning more about Shinji of all people and his servant striked to her as odd, Hakuno wasn't complaining. After all, this was all for the sake of survival...and with their enemy as a formidable foe, she had to find ways to plan-

She pauses, noticing that her servant was already asleep, his usually straight posture slightly slouched and his eyes shut, his head bent over as the man breathing softly as he slept. She hadn't really noticed it herself until now but...he did seem rather exhausted after the fight with Shinji's servant.

A gentle smile crosses her lips. "...Good night, Archer. And...thanks for today," she mutters, deciding to turn in for the night as well. Within minutes, both the master and her servant were unconscious, now immersed in the world of dreams.


	17. Underhanded Tactic

_The girl slowly approaches the table, making sure to not make any noise before she gently taps the man's shoulder. He turns, smiling softly at her the minute their eyes met._

 _"Ah...Hakuno. You shouldn't be here. I'll be back up soon, so just wait a few more minutes, okay?" The girl pouts, clearly unsatisfied with the answer. "You've been saying the same thing for the past 4 hours! Just how long are you going to be in here? You can't keep using the same excuse over and over again!"_

 _He laughs, the sound of her voice echoing in the room. "I see...sorry about that. But I promise, I'll really be done soon. So just be patient and wait for me. Can you do that?" "O-Of course I can!" Once again, the man laughs at her response._

 **0** **101010101010101010101010101010101**

The girl awakes, staring at the ceiling as if it was the most interesting thing she's seen. Had it been her brain playing tricks on her, or did she dream of something unusual? Funny enough, the events of the dream now seem blur in her mind. Slowly getting up, she takes a moment to settle from her half-asleep state as her eyes wander towards the throne of chairs, where she sees her servant...except only this time, he was awake.

"Good morning Master. Did you manage to sleep well?" he asks, tilting his head to the side casually. "Ah...good morning Archer. And yes, I did sleep rather well actually," came her reply before she gives a yawn and stretches her arms. "That's good then. We have another long day to get through, so we might as well make the most of it."

After getting ready, Hakuno heads out, where she grabs a melon bread to chew on for breakfast before she walks to the library. She didn't get a chance to look up for info there yesterday, but there shouldn't be too many people there at this time of hour. It was then that she felt her terminal vibrate in her pocket. Taking it out, she eyes the message written on it.

 _"Meet me in the girl's toilet on the first floor. I have something to give you. -X"._ X? Who was this person? Well...judging from the message itself, she assumed that the person of matter was female. However, what did she wanted to give? And why meet in the girl's toilet to give it to her anyway?

Though her mind swarmed with many questions, Hakuno decides to go and meet this strange person anyway. Standing in front of the door to the girl's toilet, Hakuno's hand reaches out for the doorknob when she takes notice of her servant still present and standing behind her, his tall stature looming over her like some invisible shadow.

Sweatdropping, she turns around and raises and eyebrow. "Uh...Archer? You aren't thinking of following me in...right?" The man looks at her as if the answer was plain obvious. "Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Right...she had a feeling that he'd say that.

Crossing her arms over her chest, she sighs. "This is the girl's toilet. I believe that guys don't have the right to step in...?" "That doesn't change the fact that you're meeting with a complete stranger in there. It's not smart to go in alone y'know." So he was playing that card, huh? A good tactic, but unfortunately, she knew better.

"I'll be alright Archer. Besides, that person can't hurt me even if they wanted to, so long as SE.RA.PH is controlling the whole school." With her servant not budging and looking unconvinced with her reasoning, she massages the bridge of her nose. "Look, I'll really be fine, ok? And if you're that worried, you can wait outside right here...unless you intend to be branded a pervert."

Archer frowns, but eventually gives in. "Ok...but don't stay too long in there. And just give a shout if anything happens and I'll come in right away." Nodding, Hakuno gives a small smile as well as the thumbs-up just to silently tell him one last time that she was going to be alright, and heads in. After all, what could possibly happen in the girl's toilet of all places, and on school grounds no less?

The room is pitch-black as she enters, the door promptly closing behind her. Squinting, she takes a while to adjust to the darkness before she tries to locate the switch for the lights. Upon touching it, she turns it on. However, the room is still dark, and Hakuno frowns as she tries to turn on and off the switch several times, to no avail. "What the...?"

Suddenly, the girl freezes and swiftly twists her body to the side, noticing a presence standing a few feet away from her. Amidst the darkness, she can make out a blurry figure of a female dressed in the Tsukumihara Academy's uniform. The girl stares blankly at Hakuno, her eyes practically drilling into her as she remained silent.

"A-Are you X? The who sent me that message?" Hakuno asks slowly after a while. The girl doesn't respond, and continues to stare blankly at her as she takes a few steps towards her. Was she a fellow master as well...or an NPC? Hakuno couldn't really tell from her lack of reaction.

The brown-haired master's hand is drifting quickly towards the doorknob, about to twist it and open the door when she hears footsteps behind her. Gasping, she turns but isn't quick enough as another female student who appeared behind her out of nowhere grabs her by the shoulders and pulls her away from the door, preventing her from escaping.

Gasping, the girl gags her before she has the chance to yell. Eyes wide in horror, she watches as the female student standing in front of her gives a hard kick towards her abdomen. The painful sensation that spreads as soon as her foot connects with her abdomen causes Hakuno to wince, tears lacing the edge of her eyelids. It hurt so much that all she wants to do is scream in pain if she could.

With her body going limp and her legs weak from the blow, her captor takes advantage of this moment and drags her body towards one of the toilet stalls, throwing the door open. Hakuno doesn't even have time to register what was going on before the girl roughly grabs her by the neck and pushes her head into the toilet bowl. Her head connects with the edge and a throbbing sensation is felt as her face is pushed straight into the water.

Hakuno struggles with all her might, panic rising in her from the lack from oxygen. She tries not to breathe in the water from her nose as her foot shot out and connects with what felt to be the culprit's arm judging from the pained grunt she hears behind her. However, that only seemed to anger the girl even more as the hand around her neck tightens, practically choking her at this point.

She didn't know how long she had been struggling, but with no air to take in, Hakuno's strength was fading away fast. Her lungs were crying out in anguish as if they were on fire, begging for even just a hint of air to take in at this point.

In the corner of her mind, she remembers Archer's warning. How foolish was she to not take heed of his advice Her vision begins blurring, with her body getting slack and still. Was she going to to die here? That question scared her more than anything at that moment. No, she couldn't die here. She didn't want to die here. Her mind flashes back towards her servant.

Suddenly, the hands holding her down releases her, and she feels large, strong hands grab her waist before her body is pulled back and the gag is removed from her mouth. The girl coughs violently, taking in fast, deep breaths as the air begins entering her tortured lungs.

Through her peripheral vision, she sees white hair and a figure dressed in red, holding onto her securely. She can make out that the figure's mouth was moving as if they were talking to her, but she their voice seems very distant to her ears. Her mind is fuzzy and she can no longer stay conscious. Closing her eyes, she manages to croak out the name of her servant before she passes out.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

 _The girl quietly reads, her legs tucked together as she turns the page. Wincing, she stares at the papercut, a thin line of red trailing down her thumb. Frowning, she licks the wound and continues reading, careful not to stain the pages with her blood._

 _"So this was where you were, Hakuno." Looking up, her eyes meet the familiar face of a man, obscured by the sudden distortion which masks her vision. "This won't do. You shouldn't be like that. If you don't interact more with others, it'll be difficult to communicate with people in the future," he says with a gentle smile._

 _Looking down at her book, Hakuno's eyebrows knit together. "...It's fine. I can manage on my own." The man chuckles at her response, tenderly patting her head._

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

Hakuno groans and begins stirring, her body somewhat feeling numb and heavy all over. Opening her eyes, she looks confused as she tries to locate the reason as to how and why she had ended up in the infirmary.

"It seems that you're awake. How are you feeling?" She twists her head just as her servant appears by the side of her bed. "Archer...what...how did I end up here?" Archer seems just as surprised and confused by her reaction as he crosses his arms over his chest.

"I brought you here after you passed out...though it was mostly Sakura who took care of you and helped to clean you up." Hakuno raises her eyebrows at his statement. What did he mean by that?

Archer too also frowns at her upon seeing her expression. "...You have no recollection on this morning's incident? Or could it be that you're just half-asleep?" he questions. Hakuno begins racking her mind for possibly reasons. Why did he seem concerned for her? Had something happened this morning?

"...Do you know remember entering the toilet and getting ambushed in there then?" Hakuno's eyes go wide at his question. Going to the toilet? Getting ambushed? What could he-

All of a sudden, something clicks into place. Hakuno grasps her forehead, recalling what had occurred before she had awoken in this place like a broken dam. She opens her mouth, no words coming out from the shock. She had been ambushed by two girls, and practically died...but someone had came in and prevented that from happening.

"Judging from the look on your face, it seems like you've remembered," Archer says slowly. The girl doesn't respond, and merely stares at her hands. She seems to be at a loss for words, unable to comprehend the incident herself. The question of "why?" never left her mind as Archer went on.

"You were about to suffocate in there, but thankfully I noticed that something was wrong the minute I felt your prana signature flare up. Also, it seemed odd that you were taking a long time in there just chatting to a random person so I decided to check up on you," Archer explains. "Then...then you were the one who..."

"Yeah, I was the one who got you out of there. The two girls were a little persistent however, so it took me a while before I could get to you." So he was the figure she saw before she passed out. Somehow, Hakuno was relieved that Archer had been waiting outside. God knows what would've happened if she had went to the girl's toilet alone.

Even if she couldn't really remember it at first, it was now fresh and vivid in her mind. The horror of being gagged, the punch that was dealt to her abdomen and the excruciating pain that came with it, and the fear that never left her as she struggled to break free from the two girls.

She could still remember the feeling of the girl's hands around her neck, her nails digging into her skin and flesh as she was being drowned. It was a horrible feeling, like a tight chain was clamped around her skin, rubbing raw against it the more she moved about.

"...Master? Are you alright?" Looking up at him, she tries to muster a smile. "I'm fine, really. Thanks for rescuing me...again. It almost feels like you're always running around to my aid." "...Master, you're trembling. Are you sure you're ok?" Was she trembling? Looking back at herself, she can indeed see that her shoulders and fingers were shaking. Dammit.

"I-I'm fine...really! I'm just...surprised that's all!" Her voice sounds unnaturally high pitched as she tries to calm herself down. "Really...I'm ok...so don't worry." Her voice gradually begins cracking with each syllable she utters, and she can already feel her eyelids getting wet. Looking away, she rubs her eyes, trying hard not to cry.

Archer stares at her with an unreadable expression, his hand unexpectedly reaching out and once again patting her on the head. She could tell that the man felt awkward doing so, but he doesn't stop. "You're safe now. So...there's no need to be afraid of anything," he quietly says.

Hakuno wants to reply to his words, telling him once again that she was just fine. However, the minute she opens her mouth, her quivering voice turns into a sob, and she soon finds herself unable to hold back her tears as she quietly weeps, with Archer looming over her like a supportive pillar for her to lean on.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

Hakuno gently rubs the remaining tears off her eyes. By then, she had mostly settled down and was in the process of calming herself. Archer on the other hand, was very considerate and mostly kept quiet while she did so, choosing only to speak when he saw that it was really alright if him to do so.

"...Sorry, I kinda overreacted there," she apologizes after a moment, looking a little embarassed that she had cried in front of someone who happened to be a grown man who was also her servant of all people. "It's fine. I can understand your fear after that sort if experience," he simply says, taking a step back so he could face her better.

"Anyway, going back to the topic at hand, those NPCs who ambushed you appeared to be controlled. Their behaviour was quite unusual, and I believe that they're NPCs who are under Shinji's control." Upon hearing Archer's opinion, she couldn't help but think the same. She could think of only one person would possibly use such an underhanded trick against her, not to mention that he already tried killing her yesterday.

"But...if that were the case, why didn't the SE.RA.PH intervene?" "Probably because the culprits were NPCs, and no magecraft or hacking were involved so it wasn't acknowledged since it doesn't exactly count as prohibited combat. Which was probably also the reason why he sent you that message as bait." No wonder she found it weird that nothing was occuring the whole time she was attacked by them.

Then again, wouldn't that just mean that Shinji may try something similar in the future to get rid of her since there wouldn't be any intervention by the system? There was no guarantee that he would give up after one or two failed attempts. Just the thought of approaching near death like earlier was enough for her to break out in a cold sweat. "You don't think...that he'll try something like this again, will he?"

The man shakes his head. "I doubt that. Even if it isn't acknowledged, the system will still keep track of any activities conducted within the school. So long as the overseers deem it as unfair conduct, Shinji will have to be penalized for it one way or another." That statement seems to have put Hakuno at ease, because she starts relaxing her tense body.

"...Wait, how long was I out for anyway?" Archer did mention her passing out before he carried her to the infirmary. She had hoped that she wasn't unconscious for half a day. "Ah...well...not for too long, around two to three hours. Sorry to say that you missed the morning lessons though." Well, at least it was just for a few hours and not an entire day. She wouldn't know how to react if she had wasted an entire day staying unconscious anyway.

Shinji Matou...it seems like he would do anything to win at this point, even if it meant indirectly killing a master within school grounds. That would mean that apart from their private room, Hakuno could have to stay alert at all times. Though she also had the option of avoiding him at all costs, that wouldn't be wise as she still needed to find out info on him on and his servant to strategize for the Elimination battle by the end of the week.

...And as much as she disliked the rules of the Holy Grail War, she wasn't intending to lose either, especially to someone like him.


	18. Knowing One's Weakness

The hours passed by rather quickly, with Hakuno mostly spending her time resting and recovering as advised by Archer before they were to enter the Arena that afternoon. Rising from her bed, she decides to leave when Archer pipes up.

"Master, did you remember me mentioning about how knowledge is the key in fighting your enemy yesterday?" Hakuno nods as Archer continues. "For that reason, you've got to drain the campus of information every single day." Hakuno's eyebrow twitches at his request...no, his command. Ok, she knew that it was mandatory to get info on the enemy and train but, wasn't he asking for a little too much?

"Because every time you enter the Arena, you forfeit any investigation for that day, understand?" Archer asks. Kind to think of it, the day always ends after Hakuno returns from the Arena regardless of how long she stays in there. Did that time that time technically moved slower within the Arena or was it just a rule made by the system?

"Probably to prevent masters from re-entering the Arena too often in a day. It'll be troublesome to keep track of them and monitor their vitals if they were to continuously enter and exit the Arena. After all, your body will be paralysed for that brief moment while you enter, right? And they will be constantly moving about too." Ah, he had a fair point.

"That being said...we have a lot to do today as well, and I believe that you have some scouting to do on your opponent." Hakuno laughs sheepishly in return, before nodding. Satisfied with her response, Archer vanishes into astral form, with Hakuno heading towards the door to exit the room. Of course, even with Archer sounding rather demanding, she knew that he, in a way, was just looking out for his rookie master.

As soon as she got out however, she was greeted by an unexpected guest standing across the door, fiddling with her terminal. Blinking, she takes a moment to realize that the person who was standing there was indeed waiting for her and not someone else. "...Nagisa?" she slowly asks, getting the girl's attention.

The girl raises her head, a wide grin plastered on her face as she stuffs her terminal into her pocket and walks over. "Hey there Hakuno! You look well!" "Um...you too?" Rather than that, why was she even here in the first place? Was there something important that she wanted to relay to her?

As if she were reading her thoughts, the female master responds. "Ah...you're probably wondering why I'm here. I heard from Sakura that you were feeling unwell, and you didn't attend classes today either. You feeling alright?" Oh, so that was why she came, though she didn't think that Nagisa would be that concerned for her wellbeing.

"Well...I was just feeling a little tired, so my servant advised me to rest up for today," came her reply. "Oh, I see. Seems that you've been training hard in the Arena then!" "Y-Yeah...on another note, is there any reason why you're here?" Nagisa would probably tell her that she was just checking up on her due to worry, but Hakuno wanted to know if she came with other intentions than just that.

"I mostly came to check on you and all...but there's something I'd like to ask as well." That was unexpected. Hakuno couldn't think of any questions she might ask...apart from maybe intel on Gawain, seeing that she had a front row seat to watch him in action yesterday. Nevertheless, the brown-haired female prompts her to ask. "Something you'd like to ask? What is it?"

"I heard from a few fellow masters that you got into a little brawl with Shinji yesterday in the Arena. Is that true?" Hakuno tries not to stiffen as she sweatdrops. Who on earth got that information and how were these rumours able to circulate around the school so fast? It couldn't be that Shinji went around and told people that Archer and his servant fought, right?

...Actually, scratch that. It might be a possibility considering his ego. For all she knew, he could probably make up some story of his servant kicking Archer's ass in the Arena, but perhaps choosing to spare her out of sheer pity...and not because the SE.RA.PH chose to intervene before things could escalate and get any uglier than it was. Yup, she could definitely picture him doing something like that now.

Either way, there was no doubt that she would receiving quite a bit of attention from this rumour. The girl was starting to get a headache trying to imagine what kind of pains she'll be going through because of her opponent. Nope, let's not go there for now.

"Err...I wouldn't say that it was a brawl but...we did tustle around for a bit," she finally says after a while. "Whoa, you actually fought against Shinji! For you to come out of the Arena unscathed is impressive, since he's strong and all!" "I..I wouldn't say that its an 'impressive' achievement actually." Technically speaking, her servant didn't emerge completely unharmed from the battle, but to put it bluntly, she was still alive and walking perfectly. ...And she was thankful for that.

"Haha, you don't need to be modest! In times like these, it's worth puffing your chest out with pride!" Well...it wasn't like she couldn't brag and say that she was proud of her and Archer barely escaping close death either. However, choosing to keep her thoughts to herself, she kindly decided to remain quiet as Nagisa continues to talk.

"Speaking of which, how's the intel gathering on his servant? His servant displayed some flashy moves yesterday at the cafeteria herself. Were you able to find any info on her?" Nagisa raised a question that Hakuno herself wasn't sure of how to reply. It wasn't like she didn't know a thing about his servant...but it wasn't like she had a lot of info on her either.

"I...don't have concrete intel on her yet," she lamely confesses. "Until now?! It's already the 3rd day though!" Ugh, she was painfully aware of that. But what could she do? She only found out about her opponent yesterday, and it didn't seem like Shinji's just gonna dump a whole pile of info and give out his servant's identity anytime soon.

"Ah...but don't feel too discouraged! You still have some time before the Elimination battle!" "R-Right...thanks." Now that she thought about it, how was Nagisa's investigation on Leo and Gawain going? Should she ask about it? Maybe she could get a tip or two out of her if she asked.

Upon inquiring, Nagisa lets out a sigh. "Leo huh...I did my own research on his servant in the library but...I've yet to encounter him in person after that day in the cafeteria. It almost seems as though he vanished somewhere!" O-Oh...so it was rough on Nagisa too. The girl nods her head awkwardly, unsure of whether to feel bad or not for asking.

"But don't get me wrong! It's not like I'm gonna give up, and you shouldn't too!" Patting her encouragingly on the back, a look of recollection crosses her face, as if she remembered that she had something to do. "Ahhhh...that's right! I have to see Fujimura-sensei! I wanted to ask her something from her lesson earlier that I didn't understand!" Nagisa begins to take a few steps away from her, looking apologetic.

"Sorry Hakuno, but I've gotta go! See ya!" The girl excuses herself before running down the hallway back to the first floor, leaving Hakuno slightly dumbfounded. "...That was rather eventful. And I hope that you've already had your fill of chatter for the day I suppose?" her servant pipes up, clearly giving her the hint. After all, she had to do some proper investigation today on Shinji's servant. "Right...sorry about that."

The man shakes his head, sighing. "It's fine...so long as you do your end of the job. At any rate, we'd best try to find him-" Archer doesn't finish his sentence when he sees something from a distance, squinting. "Huh, it looks like the guy managed to start a ruckus right off the bat." The girl tilts her head to the side in confusion, obviously not getting what he meant.

Turning her head, she tries to identify what Archer was pointing out when she sees two individuals walking out of a classroom, one of which she easily recognizes as Shinji, currently chatting with someone else, though it's hard to tell who exactly he was talking to. "We might be able to get some information. Let's head there now, Master."

The girl frowns at his suggestion. "Head there now? What if he spots us?" She doubted that he was in a good mood after his attempt at killing her failed too, and it wasn't like she wanted to see or talk to him at the moment either. Her servant's eyebrows twitch at her cluelessness as he facepalms. "...That's why we have to be discreet. There's such a thing as stalking someone, no?"

The girl takes a moment to finally register his words. Basically, Archer was telling her to go over and spy on him. A weird option but...if it meant potentially getting some info out of him, she didn't really mind. Bobbing her head in affirmation, Hakuno walks over to the scene, careful not to get his attention as she inches towards him in attempts of hearing the conversation better.

"Have you been inside of the Arena yet? It's an interesting place, isn't it? I thought that it was amazing at first, but it's really pretty primitive...like an ocean pulled from a story. I even saw a Master who managed to summon Armstrong!" Once again, Shinji seems to be conversing with the individual in his usual, overly smug attitude, though the conversation itself seemed more like him bragging aloud.

"Sorry, I was just messing with you. I dig the sea theme. Overall, the game's pretty well done." "What's this? So you managed to summon a decent servant then. It's no wonder that they call you Asia's premiere hacker." The voice that replies to him sounds so familiar that Hakuno finds her inching closee towards Shinji. Who on earth was he talking to?

"You know, I may have had to take crap from you in the past, but this time the winner is me! With her _armada_ to back me up, I'm invincible. Nothing you can do can even touch me!" Hakuno instantly takes note of the subtle yet important detail Shinji had uttered out. So his servant controlled an armada? She must be a well-known Legendary Soul then.

"Oho, you must be pretty confident in giving out information about your servant to an enemy, Matou-kun." In that moment, Hakuno finally is able to identify the individual who was talking to him, her eyes going wide in pleasant surprise. That elegant voice can only be Rin Tohsaka's; only she has the ability to crush Shinji's pride so effortlessly with a single word.

From the side view, Hakuno could clearly see Shinji's eyes the size of saucers and his face going bright red as he suddenly realizes how big of a mistake he had just made. "Err...y-yeah. Yeah, that's right! One-sided fights bore me, so think of this as a gift! B-But is it really?! I might just be lying, so you should probably forget what I've said!" he says, looking flustered as he attempts to cover for his slip-up of the tongue.

"That is true. A single word alone could never expose a servant's true name after all," Rin begins in a light-hearted manner as Shinji's shoulders begin to relax. "...However..." She pauses, possibly for dramatic effect while watching Shinji stiffen once again as a smile crosses her lips. "...A class that controls an armada and is tied to a ship will probably thin out the number of candidates there is." Hakuno hadn't noticed it before but, even without seeing Rin in action, she could tell that she was a powerful magus herself.

"Now then...how will she attack, bombardment...or frontal assault? It'll definitely be physical in nature." Tilting her head to the side, her smile becomes that of a wide grin as she 'innocently' stares at Shinji. "Well, I guess the only thing left for me to do is prepare some physical barriers to counter your servant's attacks. A good tactic, wouldn't you say?"

In that moment, Shinji's face goes from bright red to a terrifying shade of blue right before her eyes, though it wasn't really surprising. Anyone would cower under such a situation. Once you learn something about an enemy servant, you can make plans to defeat them. If both sides are strong, but only one plans, the results of the battle would be obvious. So that's what they meant by knowledge is power; she understands perfectly now.

As if wanting to taunt Shinji even more, Rin goes on. "Oh, one more thing. I wonder if the Invincible Armada is relevant to anything..." Shinji looks mildly confused and afraid at the same time when she says this. "I mean...others will start making references to that right? Won't that just piss off your servant?" For a moment there, it almost seemed as if she glanced over at her, and was directing that line towards Hakuno, though she can't be too sure.

"W-Well...whatever. Knowledge means nothing if you can't do anything with it. There's a good chance that you and I will never even have to face each other." With that final pathetic attempt at a comeback, Shinji starts walking away...towards Hakuno's direction. And of course, since there was nowhere to hide herself in such an open space, he sees the girl right off.

The man halts, looking bewildered. "H-Hakuno...! You...!" He points a finger towards her. "You were there listening the entire time, weren't you?! WEREN'T YOU?!" Hakuno winces at the tone of his voice, hoping that the ruckus he was causing wasn't attracting too much attention. She didn't need anymore eyes on her after the rumour yesterday after all.

"H-Heh...well, it's not like you can stop the Invincible Arm- I mean my servant..." The guy sweeps a stray hair from his face in attempts of regaining his composure as he laughs. "Whatever. My victory is all but assured. Catch you later. Oh, and try not to disappoint me."

The man bids a hasty retreat as he walks downstairs, not another word to be said. It seems as though he didn't bring up this morning's matter. Was he going to deny it? Or could it be that he was penalized after trying to kill her? Was that why he's keeping quiet about it? Either way, she was glad that he's not bringing it up. She didn't need to recall the unpleasant experience once again.

Turning her head, she realizes that Rin was still standing there, shaking her head. " _*sigh*_ It seems that there are a lot if masters here who don't understand the stakes involved," was all she said before she starts walking away as well, her hair lightly bouncing around her shoulders as she does so. Rin watches her back before she disappears to the third floor, possibly yo head to the rooftop.

"...It's as the ice queen said. That boy has no clue how important information is in this war. The guy's an idiot." Looking at the blank space where her servant is supposedly standing, Hakuno gives him a perplexed look. Was it just her or did it seem as though Archer was agreeing to Rin's statement...in a positive manner?

"Anyway, you can find information in both the Arena and on campus. From now on, be sure that you don't sleepwalk through your investigations, okay?" "G-Got it." The man, not finished with what he has to say, goes on. "I've said this before, and I will say it again, but obtaining information on your enemy is the key to victory. Be sure to thoroughly search the Arena for clues. It's better to be obsessive than dead."

Well...she wouldn't go that far to say that she'd rather be "obsessive", but Archer's right. She had to make sure to drain as much info as she can on Shinji and his servant, especially since it's already the third day of the preparation period. Looking ahead, her eyes unexpectedly lead to her towards the library.

Sliding the door open, she sees that the library is rather empty, with only a few NPCs and fellow masters hanging around the vicinity. Carefully searching through the rows of bookshelves, she locates the book which she was finding. Turning through the pages, she soon finds the section dictating about the Invincible Armada. _"The Invincible Armada- the name given to the Spanish Navy during what was known to be the Age of Exploration. With over 100-thousand ton ships and 65,000 crew members, it almost subjugated all of England. Through the might of its navy, Spain was seen as the kingdom of which the **s** **un will never set**." _

As soon as she finishes reading the section on the Invincible Armada, she hears a familiar high pitched sound coming from her terminal. Taking it out, she eyes the text written on the screen: _'Servant Matrix Information Level 2- Enemy servant info obtained'._ So the terminal must've deemed this as valuable information on the opponent's servant. That was good, at least she knew that she was getting somewhere.

With nothing in particular to do, Hakuno decides to head to the Arena to begin her daily dose of training with Archer. ...And she hopes that Shinji wouldn't be in there at this time again either.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

The girl lets out a tired sigh, her shoulders slumping as she removed her stockings to check on her toes, wincing at the blisters she could see on a few of them. Today had been another torturous day in the Arena, and it didn't help that Hakuno had managed to trip over her own two feet several times in the process, her knees slightly bruised as a result.

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, she turns to see Archer holding a first aid kit box. "Here. You probably exerted your body too much compared to usual today. Even with the healing fountain's properties, it'll probably take a night's worth of rest to full recover," her servant comments, taking a few plasters to give to her, the girl accepting it with thanks.

"I mean...half of the preparation period's already gone. At our current state, we still don't stand a chance against Shinji and his servant," she protests, gingerly placing the plasters on her toes. Compared to the fact that her blisters hurt, she was more concerned about getting prepped before the decisive battle than her current wellbeing.

The man gives her a crooked smile in return. "It's good to know that you're taking this seriously, but don't overexert yourself too much. We still have 3 more days towards the preparation period, and I can't have you passing out on me again before the Elimination Battle." "Ugh...it sucks how you can still get injured in this place." "Hmph, that's just how it is. No use complaining about it."

Placing the first aid kit box on the table beside her bed, the man walks over towards his throne of chairs and deposits himself there, carefully watching her attend to her injuries in a quiet manner. After patching herself up, Hakuno decides to look through the matrix on her terminal before turning in for the night as well. Today had been a rather fruitful day, and she hoped that the rest of the preparation period would go just as smoothly.

Just for that brief moment before she fell asleep, she could feel her servant's eyes on her as the girl could've sworn that he clicked his tongue in irritation, murmuring something to himself. Although wanting to ask, she was way to tired to even move her lips, and soon drifted to sleep.


	19. Clashing of Rivals

The man watches silently at the girl wept before him, tears gently cascading down her cheeks from her red eyes as quiet sobs escaped from her lips. The man dared not say anything the entire time she cried, worrying that he would upset her even more than she already was (besides, how was he supposed to comfort her? It wasn't like he had any words to encourage or console her either).

Instead, he allowed her to release her tears as long as she wanted until she calmed down, choosing to silently stay by her side while she did so.Well, it's not that he could blame her. She was nearly on the verge of dying once again, and would've if he had not sensed her distress at the last minute. Anyone normal would react in such a manner.

Unlike Rin, he was quick to find out that she wasn't a mentally strong person, even if she tried to be one. The girl had pretended to act perfectly fine after crying, but she wasn't fooling him with that facade of hers.

He looks at the window, the tiny gap through the curtains showing the virtual night sky. Clicking his tongue, he lets out a grunt of irritation.The man had been careless, too trusting of his rookie master to put it in another sense.

He had assumed that she wouldn't be so gullible but...guess he had another thing coming at him. As much as a pain that it would seem, he would have to keep a closer eye on her tomorrow, whether he liked it or not.

Turning his head, the man's eyes are now fixed on his sleeping master. The girl looked to be quite tired, with her doll-like face showing signs of fatigue and exhaustion after today's training. Today had been rather eventful to say in the least, yet he was mildly surprised that she could still train and act normal for the rest of the day.

No...the more accurate way to describe it was that she acted as if the whole incident hadn't occurred at all. Maybe crying in the infirmary did help? Not that he would know (girls tend to be so confusing!).

Sighing, he closes his eyes once again. All he knew was that he had gotten stuck with a rather troublesome master to take care of, and this was just the start of his worries. A brief image pops in his head, with a familiar twin-tailed girl smiling confidently at him, but he immediately swipes it off. Why did he remember her of all people at a time like this?

Well...it was more than ironic to see a similar counterpart in this war as well, with the same attitude and mindset. She walked like her, acted and talked like her, behaved like her, yet wasn't the same as her. She was her and yet at the same time wasn't like her. ...Did he think that his current master was the same as her then...?

No, this was different than it was with her. Unlike her, this girl didn't live in an environment where she was trained to be mage from a young age. She was much more capable of handling herself, and didn't like or need anyone telling her what to do compared to his current master. One thing that stuck to him was her way of proving him wrong countless times, striking down her foes brilliantly without hesitation, not forgetting her role as a strong mage yet still showing compassion for the weak and helpless.

To say that she was admirable as a master was an understatement. She was stubborn and independent, with a fire in her eyes that was unmatched with anyone else, and always planned ahead or knew of what the enemy was about to do. In the first place, she wouldn't even let something like this get to her head unlike with this girl.

Shaking his head, the man resists clicking his tongue in disapproval. No, he couldn't act like this. What good would it do to compare this sleeping girl to her? He had already told both her and himself that no matter how inexperienced she was, he was going to help her as much as he could, regardless of her attitude of lack of motivation. That much was all he could do as her servant. And with a girl who easily attracted trouble like her, he couldn't afford to let his guard down so easily.

Propping his head at a comfortable angle, he crosses his arms over his chest and allows himself to sleep. Ah, he should really learn to stop thinking so much over things like this, was all he thought before the drowsiness overtook him.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

 _"Hakuno." The girl looks up upon her name being called, staring at the man before her. "...It's getting late. Are you sure you don't want to rest first?" Oh, so it was that late already? Odd, it felt a though time hadn't even passed for a second._

 _The girl shakes her head. "It's fine...I'm not really tired." Again, the man chuckles, and the girl finds herself raising her eyebrows as he strokes her hair. Was what she said that funny that he had to laugh?_

 _As the man's fingers gentle brush against the strands of her hair, she closes her eyes. Yes, she didn't feel tired...but perhaps it was good to rest like this every now and then. And so she did, complying to the man's earlier request as he continued to gently stroke her forehead._

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

The girl finds herself waking abruptly once again, her eyes greeting the ceiling and her ears hearing the sound of the clock ticking. Her breaths are shallow, and for a while she doesn't say or do anything, choosing to silently stay in bed until she hears her servant shifting next to her.

Turning her head, she sees the man that was just beginning to wake up himself. Choosing then to get up from the bed into a sitting position, she does so, and watches as her servant stretches his arms before looking back at her. "...Good morning Archer," she quietly greets, giving him a small smile.

The man gives a nod, standing up from his throne of chairs. "Good morning to you as well Master. How are you feeling? Are your toes better now?" Ah, now that he brought that up...

Removing the covers from her legs, she sees that her toes were in a much better state compared to last night; seems as though the healing fountain's water really did the trick. Removing each plaster from her toes, she takes a moment before she rises from the bed, preparing for another day's worth of training and intel gathering.

Walking along the campus, she sees various NPCs, who appear as busy students, among the masters. Now that she could properly observe them, she was quick to notice that not only did the NPCs look slightly different in comparison to the masters, but their behaviour seems a little...off.

How should she put it? Maybe it's their lack of a soul. To them, this battle is just a string of data variables. Hakuno stops and continues to stare at a small group of gathered masters, her eyes immediately fixed on a certain someone, that person sticking out like a sore thumb.

It took only a few seconds later for that person to notice her as well, as he gives a smile and waves. "Ah, good morning Kishinami-san. How early for you to be up and about," he greets, walking over towards her. "G-Good morning to you too Leo," she awkwardly replies, trying not to stare back at the hulking servant who was standing behind Leo, staring at her like a hawk.

Leo lets out a chuckle at her response. "Please, there is no need to exert yourself to be so formal with me. I do wish that we could converse normally like we used to during the preliminaries. That being said, I believe I remarked that we would meet again back then, didn't I?"

The girl blinks in astonishment. So the comment was aimed at her back then. She had thought at first that Leo was only directing that line at her classmate...but to think that he actually knew of her eavesdropping on their conversation is a little...terrifying to put it in a nice way. She takes note of his presence, the force of it overwhelming his seemingly innocent appearance.

Leonardo Bistario Harway. Rin had explained that he was the future leader of the Western plutocrats, tasked with obtaining this war's Holy Grail, and was only assigned to be Nagisa's opponent. Even without him saying a word, she could feel the authorative aura that he was exerting on her...no, every individual there was in this school, even the NPCs. Before, it felt like he was a wolf let loose inside a chicken coop. Now though, she just feels out of place.

Her pupils slowly drift towards the shadowy figure radiating the same aura of strength, clad in white armour which clearly marked him as a servant. Even after his grand and extravagant appearance and reveal of name yesterday, Hakuno couldn't help but fix her eyes on him.

Leo turns and looks at his servant, before a gentle smile graces his lips. "...Ah, how forgetful of me. You haven't had a proper meeting with him yesterday I assume?" Turning back to face her, the pleasant smile never leaving his face as Leo instructs his servant. "Gawain, introduce yourself."

Upon his command, his servant takes a step forward and bows. "I am his servant, Gawain. I am pleased to be acquainted with you, and do hope that you are a worthy foe." As the servant nods in greeting, an enigmatic smile forms on his lips. He says all this in a chivalrous yet flat manner, before stepping back to stand behind Leo once again, like how a knight would with its king. He is the exemplar of knighthood and, though a servant, has the same bearing as his master that it's almost comes a surprise to her.

Though she doesn't know too many details about him, it wasn't difficult to figure out a thing or two of his past. ...Sir Gawain, one of the knights of the Round Table mentioned in the legends of King Arthur. It's said that his prowess rivaled King Arthur's, and his holy sword as equal in power to Excalibur.

While she didn't want to assume things, it wasn't obvious by his lore alone that he's a Saber-class servant. Seeing that his lore was fairly popular and well-known, it wouldn't be too hard to know more about him. Perhaps she could even discover and weakness or two of his.

Hakuno carefully looks back at Leo, the boy still smiling brightly at her. She's 100% sure that Leo is aware of how much information he's leaked to her and the other masters yesterday, but seems rather unconcerned by it. It's obvious that he chooses not to worry with such things such as subtlety or tactics.

For him, if something is destined to be revealed, so be it. From his point of view, his victory is all but assured; his superiority over others reinforced every day since he was born. Somehow, Hakuno couldn't help but worry for Nagisa now. Could she really hold her ground against such an opponent? She didn't wanna think of such situations.

"Well then, it has been great speaking with you, but I must take my leave now." Snapping out if her trance, she watches as Leo bows slightly and turns to leave. "I hope to see you again. Also, I heard that Shinji Matou is your opponent. Please fight with honor and pride." With nothing else said, he walks upstairs, with his servant following closely behind him. All Hakuno could do was silently watch him leave. So this was who Nagisa was facing.

Though he seems rather nice, she could tell that he would not hold back against his opponent. No, the more correct way to phrase it is that he doesn't even need to hold back against his opponent. And since she's got a taste of his fighting style two days ago as well, she could tell the amount of power Gawain possessed, even as a servant. Both individuals were strong, and that much was undeniable no matter how much she didn't want to admit it.

"So the scion of the family himself decides to become a master. Ugh, how annoying." Whipping her head around, she comes in contact with Rin who was leaning her back against the wall, her fingers drumming across her crossed arms in irritation. How long had she been there? Was she listening in on their conversation the entire time without Hakuno even noticing?

On another note, based on how she acted two days ago and how she's acting now, the murderous glare she was giving was almost palpable. It didn't seem that she and Leo were on good terms. Were they enemies of some sort back in the real world? And...what on earth did Leo possibly do to make her that angry? Rin was probably looking even more pissed right now that Shinji was with Leo in the cafeteria the other day, and that alone was an achievement!

"The power of the Holy Grail. It seems that the plutocrats of Europe sense a threat in the SE.RA.PH. But to risk their leader was probably a huge, dumb mistake on their part." Placing a hand on her hip, Rin flips her hair over her shoulder, a smirk now on her features.

"Things just got more interesting, athough my powers as a magus are far more superior than his!" she declares, causing Hakuno's eyes to go wide. Wow, she was not expecting that, though Hakuno's getting the feeling that Leo has little to no concern at all for people like her.

With their eyes meeting, Rin's smile fades towards a more neutral expression. "Oh, hey Hakuno. You're looking well and alive, despite almost drowning and dying yesterday. Was getting your face squashed inside a toilet bowl fun?" she asks in her usual sarcastic, light-hearted tone of voice, tilting her head to the side.

Hakuno didn't know that her eyes could go any wider than they already were until Rin spoke those words, her jaw dropping open. Someone else other than her herself found out about yesterday's incident?! She was sure that she was only one awake and about that early though! "Rin...how...did you..."

Sighing, Rin walks past her, not bothering to look back as she continues to walk down the hallway. "I have my ways. You on the other hand, better start taking care of yourself, or you're gonna end up dying even before the end of this week. Shinji may be a fool, but he's not completely stupid. You'd best be cautious around him." She doesn't say another word, and disappears after entering one of the classrooms while leaving Hakuno standing in the same spot, dumbfounded. Without so much as saying hi, the now fired up Rin Tohsaka almost seems to stomp away.

Her terminal buzzes in recognition that classes were about to start, and Hakuno doesn't have time to ponder on what Rin was going about before she scurries back to her classroom before Taiga arrives. What she does know however, is that Rin sees Leo as an arch-enemy...or possibly more than that, and shudders thinking about it.

It was at times like these that she's silently happy about not being a world-known figure like Leo. Getting Rin as her enemy was one thing but...getting on her bad side was another, and she didn't wanna start pissing her off as well.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

The bells rings after a few hours of intensive learning as Hakuno leans onto her chair lazily, her head on the table. It was thr fourth day, here in this crazy, virtual world with her as a participant in the Holy Grail War. She reminds herself so many times, yet is unable to truly understand and comprehend that yet. So this was what Rin meant the other time when she told her that she would feel 'disoriented'.

Feeling someone lightly tap on her shoulder, she turns to see an all too familiar face gazing upon her with a large grin that extended to her cheeks. Sitting up properly, Hakuno smiles. Funny how Nagisa would approach her so many times, yet she had to admit, she was beginning to enjoy these small conversations that they would have every now and then. "Hey Nagisa."

"Yo! You seem energetic!" she jokes, patting her on the back with a laugh, with Hakuno laughing sheepishly in return. "Yeah well, it's kinda hard for me to focus when it comes to Greek mythology. And Fujimura-sensei goes too into detail with it at times," she replies. "Ah, but I thought that was the fun part! Then again, not everyone enjoys history!"

"I do admit, it's nice of the SE.RA.PH to hold these classes. They're pretty useful." "Yeah! Though...it would've been nice if Fujimura-sensei would talk more about the Arthurian Legends. That way I can learn more about Gawain without having to always go to the library so often. I've already made at least 12 trips to the library within the past 4 days! It's so tiring!" she whines.

"About that...how's the research going om Leo and Gawain?" Hakuno suddenly asks. "Huh? Oh, it's going rather well! Though...I'm still trying to find a way to counterattack Gawain's abilities. Did you know that he's invincible so long as the sun is up?! I mean...there's technically no real sun in this place but like...that's totally unfair! He's gotta be cheating!"

So that was Gawain's trump card. Indeed, it seemed rather powerful, considering that in here the sun would have to mean daytime, and all masters enter the Arena around this time of day too. Was there even any way to counterattack such a powerful ability? Hakuno suddenly remembers her conversation with Leo this morning. Should she bring that up?

It was then that the two heard someone calling out to Nagisa from the front. Turning her head, Hakuno sees a grey-haired individual with thin-framed glasses eyeing them. "Ah, Makinohara-san's calling for me. Well, I'll catch you later Hakuno!" Nagisa says, giving Hakuno one last pat on the back before she joins the female. Hakuno watches them talk for a while before she rises from her seat. Guess she'll head to the library first to look up on Gawain, then head to the Arena.

Upon exiting the classroom, Hakuno is somewhat pleasantly greeted by the sight of Rin standing in the hallway, looking through her terminal. It was kinda weird seeing her at this time of day, since she'd usually disappear somewhere. Hakuno ponders on whether she should go over and greet her, but before she could even decide on the course of action, Rin notices her. "Hey Hakuno. Fancy meeting you here." "Y-Yeah, you too."

Walking over, Rin gives her a smile. "Still formal as always it seems. I trust you're doing well, all things considered." Hakuno nods in reply. Well, apart from almost dying yesterday, things had been going rather smoothly so to speak. Rin gives her a lopsided grin.

"Your innocence is appaling even for me. A word of advice: you will neber catch a glimpse of victory if you always insist on running away." Yeah, she didn't need to be told twice on that. Even Archer had reminded her of the same thing the second time they went to the Arena.

"Oh, but don't get me wrong. Facing a foe you know nothing about is lunacy." Stuffing her terminal into her pocket, Rin crosses her arms and goes on explaining. "In this war, knowledge is everything. To defeat your opponent, you must learn everything about them, from their class and skills to their history. Every little detail counts in ensuring your survival in this war." Yeah, Hakuno had to learn that the hard way.

"The more info you have, the easier it will be to create a plan and predict your opponent's actions. For now, why don't you go to the library? There's a treasure trove of information there." Pointing towards the direction of where the library was, she hopes for Hakuno to take the hint, to which she does. Taking a few steps, Hakuno pauses and turns back to face her. "What? Do you have something you wanna ask?"

Now that she thought about it, Rin had been there to point out all these subtle but important things, and while she did have a sharp tongue, she was expressing her kindness in her own way. It may be weird, but it didn't sit right for Hakuno to not properly thank her. With as much sincerity as she could muster, she manages to make out, "Thank you".

Rin's eyes widen as she blinks at Hakuno. Opening her mouth, she closes it again after a few seconds, sighing as she places a hand to her forehead. Hakuno could've sworn that Rin blushed for a brief moment, but quickly reverts to a frown.

" _*sigh*_ It's because you're act in such a way that people think that you're an easy target. I may be giving you advice now, but we're technically still enemies. There's no point in thanking me." Seeing how Hakuno was still staring at her, she places a hand on her hip and raises an eyebrow. "...I know how hard it is for you to show me gratitude. That, and I could just be using you, right? Anyway, do your best."

With no more to be said between the two, Hakuno walks off towards the direction of the library. She didn't know why, but Rin's words felt like a source of motivation for her. Rin was a kind person, even if she tried to hide it, and that much was certain.

Though she had been tempted to reply to her that it would've been nice if they weren't enemies and could easily converse like this under other circumstances, she knew that Rin would've probably yelled at her and lectured her for mentioning 'something stupid' if she really said that, and she didn't wanna risk angering her after the whole incident with Leo this morning.

Entering the library, she saw that there were indeed more people inside compared to yesterday. All these masters were probably searching up on their opponents' servants as well. Glancing towards a certain shelf of books, she opens it and begins to quickly go through it when she pauses at a certain page: it was dictating about Gawain.

 _"One of the major knights mentioned in the Arthurian Cycle and often thought to be King Arthur's nephew. Equal in skill to Lancelot, he served as an advisor to King Arthur."_ So Gawain was supposedly King Arthur' relative. If that were the case, it would explain his absurd power and and strength as a knight. Hakuno decided to take note of these details as she continued to read on.

 _He was at odds with Lancelot due to his slaying of both of Gawain's brothers. Due to his overwhelming nobility and youthful impetuousness, he placed his family ties above all else. It was Sir Gawain's hatred towards Lancelot that led to his and King Arthur's eventual downfall. It was at the Great Battle of Camlann that Sir Gawain fell, slain by Sir Lancelot."_ Hakuno turns the page, slightly disappointed that there were no more details about the servant to be found. However, she did end up knowing more about Leo's servant.

So Sir Gawain harboured hatred towards his ally, one of the knights of the Round Table, Sir Lancelot...and that hatred eventually led to his death. Somehow, she could picture his end to be quite painful, having to be killed by his own comrade whom he despised. And this servant was going to be Nagisa's opponent along with Leo. Hakuno places the book back on the shelf, her head filled with worried thoughts.

However, her mood only soured even more the minute she takes a few steps towards the other aisle of shelves. Standing before her now was none other than her opponent, Shinji Matou. The guy smirks, placing the book that he had been reading back on the shelf and places a hand on his hip. "Hey, look who the cat dragged in. I never expected to run into you."

Hakuno bites her bottom lip, already expecting a hail of insults to rain on her. "Oh, who am I kidding?! Ha ha, I'm just messing with you. The library is the best place to find info. I know all about you, so I expect you to go all out against me." This causes her to visibly stiffen.

Had she misheard that? Shinji knew all about Archer?! But she was being extra careful during their encounter in the Arena, and not once did she even mention his class name. And forget about class name, did he also find out about Archer's true identity?! Even she herself didn't know a thing about him, yet here her opponent was, openly declaring that he knew everything there was to know about her servant like it was common knowledge.

Had she been such an easy open book for him to find out? A possibility pops in her mind and she finds herself narrowing her eyes suspiciously at Shinji. No, it couldn't be that he hacked the database and somehow managed to track info on her and Archer, right? But...that could be the only way if he's telling the truth. What a dirty, cheating scoundrel!

"Ah, but enough about good ol' me. Looks like you on the other hand, are having a hell of a time finding the book you want." His fingers brush suggestively against a shelf of books, the smirk never leaving his face and instead was only growing wider with each passing second.

"Unfortunately for you, I've thoughtfully taken every book about my servant and hide them!" he finally says, with Hakuno staring at him open-mouthed in shock. Ok, this time she must've definitely heard wrong. "Oh, don't look at me like that! I just thought that you'd have more fun getting the info you want, so I hid every book somewhere in the Arena. Although, I wonder if a weaksauce master like you can even find them in the first place."

Clenching her hands into fists, Hakuno takes a step forward and glares at Shinji. "Shinji...! You-" "By the way, what does your servant want in return for helping you? Money right? I knew it! But anyway, do your best...while you still can! Hahahahaha!" Rudely cutting her off, Shinji laughs whilst completely ignoring her death glare. "Whelp, see you around. Good luck." Walking off, he pauses right next to her, shooting a look of pity.

"Oh right, and I do hope that you put up more of a fight the next time we meet in the Arena. You're starting to bore me!" Hakuno doesn't even get the chance to retort when he leaves, shutting the library door soundly behind him.

She stares at it in frustration, somewhat hoping that Shinji would return for one more stupid insult so she could maybe pound some sense into him. It was bad enough that she didn't have enough information on him, but to think that he would find out so much about Archer...and knew of her collecting info on his servant in the library.

"Oh, if it isn't Kishinami-san. What a coincidence that we'd meet again." Turning her body, she sees Leo standing before her. The girl relaxes her tense shoulders, and forces herself to smile at him. "Ah, hey Leo. Are you here to do research as well?" The boy nods, a small smile gracing his lips.

"Yes, you could say that. After all, what better place is there in this school than the library when wanting to know more about your opponent?" Hakuno couldn't help but freeze, gulping when he asks that question. He was referring to Nagisa, wasn't he? Her thoughts flash back towards the smiling girl she conversed with mere minutes ago.

These two were gonna fight each other in 3 days time, and there was no changing that; Fate had paired the two together. However, Gawain was strong, not to mention that he had a superior ability and he was technically as powerful as King Arthur. Doubt and fear shrouded her mind. As much as she didn't want to question it, was Nagisa going to stand a chance against such a powerful foe?

She did say that she wasn't going to go down without a fight, and Hakuno knew better than to prioritize the wellbeing of herself over others but...she still couldn't help but worry nonetheless, much to her dismay. Was she afraid that Nagisa was going to lose? "Y-Yeah, you're right about that."

"On another note, congratulations on making it to the main tournament. It seems that I had forgotten to properly say so this morning, and I apologize for that." Leo tilts his head as a gesture of apology as Hakuno waves her hands in front of her face, looking flustered. "Oh, it's fine! You don't have to do that!" Leo pauses, his pupils staring at hers in an odd manner before he straightens himself up.

"...As much as it seems unpleasant, I couldn't help but overhear your conversation with Shinji Matou. Though I cannot extend my help to you in finding those books, what I'd like to advise is for you to be careful, as I heard that his servant is powerful." Hakuno bites on her lower lip, slowly nodding her head after a moment. Leo didn't need to mention it twice; she herself already knew how powerful Shinji's servant was...and the gap of overwhelming difference there was between Archer and her.

Her thoughts flashed back towards her classmates, all the people she hung out with. How she wished she coulf go back to those quiet, peaceful days where she didn't need to worry about surviving, about living, _about not dying._ Were they all deleted by the system after the prelims? Was her time with them nothing but an illusion created by the SE.RA.PH? No, she refused to believe that!

Somehow taking the hint, Leo looks at Hakuno with what could be described as pity. "...Oh, it seems like you don't accept our previous school life as anything but a farce." "...! I don't-" Leo places a hand to silence her before proceeding. "It's fine. ...Let's see, since fate has made us companions, perhaps I should explain things to you, shall I?"

Hakuno is hurt by his distant actions, yet isn't clueless on the fact that Leo doesn't see her as a classmate or friend, but rather as an opponent. She can't blame him. In this war, there were only two options: to live or to die. There was no point making allies when you might have to face them one day anyway. Looking forward, she can only nod at him. "...Yes, please Leo."


	20. Strengthening through Contact?

"Let's get started. First of all, do you know what a reality marble is?" Hakuno takes a moment to think. She did recall Taiga mentioning about it briefly in one of her earlier lessons, though she didn't exactly explain it in detail. "Err...from what I know, a reality marble is type of forbidden magecraft that requires a large amount of mana to create an altered space?"

"Correct, though in a more accurate sense, it's a thaumaturgical technique whereby our space is transformed into a completely different space. Some servants are able to generate reality marbles. As it takes a great deal of energy to sustain reality marbles, most last for only a few minutes." The concept of a reality marble...so what Leo was explaning was that while it seemed incredibly useful, it also poses a threat to the user since it uses up a ton of magical energy within the span of a few minutes.

"The school that housed the preliminaries happened to be a reality marble that was generated by the Holy Grail. Besides the school as it appeared during the preliminaries, the current school, the Arena, and the coliseum...all are individual reality marbles creating by the incredible magic of the Holy Grail." Hakuno listens on, not hiding the surprise from her face. To think that the space they were talking in right now, every inch and corner, was a reality marble was beyond her anticipation.

" Let's see...to give you an idea on how powerful the Holy Grail is...even the most advanced supercomputer there is couldn't sustain one reality marble this length of time." So that powerful of an item was controlling the war. Somehow, it almost seemed frightening knowing what havoc it could wreck when placed in the hands of the wrong person.

"All the participants of the Holy Grail War had their memories wiped out upon entering. Then, the Holy Grail's reality marble gave all the participants school personas to inhabit. Masters had a total if four days to realize that they've been tricked into playing a role of a mere student. Potential masters had to pass that basic test to enter into the Holy Grail War. *chuckle* Although Tohsaka seemed to shake off her yoke...very quickly if I am to add." Leo pauses for a moment to quietly laugh, before excusing himself. Hakuno raises an eyebrow at his brief drop of usual demeanor, finding his amused response to be rather unexpected.

"By the way, Fujimura-sensei and Issei Ryuudou aren't masters. They're NPCs with specific functions." So Shinji was right about the war having an 'administrative puppet', though this raises another question: were they both NPCs even before the war began? Hakuno did recall Issei exerting odd behaviour during the preliminaries, and the man seemed almost inhuman most of the time. Did that mean that all the other teachers and student council members were NPCs too?

"The masters who did not break free of the fantasy were dealt death. Tragic, but the Holy Grail War itself is a length process of culling the weak." Leo taps his chin thoughtfully before raising his eyes to meet hers with a smile. "A word of advice: learn all you can. I assure you that the information will greatly benefit you later on."

Hakuno gulped at his words. Leo clearly wasn't just offering 'advice', but he was also warning her of how competitive this war could be. There were so many strong masters present in this place, Leo included, that could easily kill her if they wanted to if not for the system interferring. One wrong move and she could be wiped out from existence in an instant. It didn't really matter even if she had info on his servant.

Biting on her lower lip, she tips her head in thanks. "Sure...I'll remember that. Thanks Leo." With no more to be said, the young man continues to smile at her even as she turns to leave the library. Hakuno stands with the now closed door behind her, before she lets out a sigh of relief. She didn't think that being in one's presence could be that...intimidating.

Shaking her head, Hakuno tries to calm down and regain her composure. No...there was no use worrying about him now. What she needed to do at this moment was focus on her own opponent, Shinji Matou. Her mind flashes back to what he had mentioned a few minutes ago. He hid all the books on his servant in the Arena...so that meant that she had to go in and retrieve them. As much as a pain it sounds, she had no choice.

Making her way downstairs, she pauses upon noticing a certain teacher smiling up at her in anticipation. Speak of the devil, it was none other than Taiga Fujimura. "Hey there Kishinami-san! I don't suppose you've already found and have my kendo sword with you?" Hakuno blinks at her for a moment, before she realises the reason for her standing there. Taking out her terminal, she scrolls through her inventory and locates the kendo sword code, the item materializing in her free hand a moment later.

Taiga doesn't even wait for Hakuno to return the sword to her as her sparkling eyes widen in happiness, the teacher running up and practically ripping the sword from her hand as she gazes at it fondly before hugging it tightly. "Ah, my beloved kendo sword! You've actually found it! How I've missed you so!" she says joyfully whilst her cheeks rub against it affectionately. Meanwhile, the brown-haired student sweatdrops as she watches the exchange feeling both amused and awkward at the same time.

"Thank you so much Kishinami-san! I'm so grateful to know that there's still some kind students who's willing to help out their teachers!" Hakuno forces a smile on her face and laughs sheepishly in response. "It's alright. The sword wasn't too hard to find, so the task wasn't that difficult." With this, the girl hopes that Taiga would be satisfied and just...leave, because she really needs to be heading to the Arena and can't afford to waste anymore precious time chatting away with her.

But as fate would have it, such a wish was not to be fufilled. "...Um...by the way...I hate to ask you for another favour...but..." From her tone alone, Hakuno could already sense the impending danger approaching her. Slowly backing away, Hakuno attempts to retreat back upstairs when Taiga grabs her by the wrist, preventing her from escaping.

"...Kishinami-san, do you think you can do your teacher one more teensy favour? I promise you that it won't be too difficult," Taiga says in an all too sweet voice, the grip on her wrist tightening immensely that Hakuno feared her bones would break. Tipping her head in defeat, Hakuno looks back at this demon of a teacher. Hopefully Taiga was truthful when she said that the task wasn't troublesome. "...Sure, why not?"

"Really! Oh, thank you! Truth be known, I really need a tangerine, stat!" Hakuno pauses to process her request, before she utters a single word which summarises her reaction: "...Huh?" The teacher pouts, letting go of her wrist. "Now don't go looking like that again! You did say you'd grant my request now, wouldn't you?!"

"Well...yes but, what do you need a tangerine for, Fujimura-sensei?" "It doesn't matter what I need it for! All you need to remember is that I need it in three days, and I'm sure that there's a tangerine somewhere on the second floor!" Again, Hakuno sweatdrops at her somewhat unreasonable request.

"If you could get it for me by the end of the first round, I'd get ecstatic! I'll even give you a fabulous decoration for your private room as a reward!" This causes Hakuno to perk up. "...A decoration? Like what?" Taiga places her index finger to her lips and grins. "That's a secret! But you'll find out if you get that tangerine for me! With that, good luck!"

Taiga's hand connects with her back painfully as Hakuno lets out a gasp of pain, watching as her teacher begins skipping away to the faculty room. The girl is left dumbfounded, but doesn't have time to react when a tall figure approaches her. The girl's eyes look up to properly face him, coming to a realization that she's now staring at none other than Kotomine.

"Greetings, young master. It's been a while since we've last spoken to each other. How do you do?" Kotomine begins, his hands placed behind his back. Hakuno stands straight, ignoring the stinging pain of her back as she backs away a step. For some odd reason, she had the feeling that Kotomine had the habit of standing closely in front of people...too close for comfort that is to say. "Ah...well, I'm good. I've managed to get the first cipher key and all!"

Kotomine nods contently at her answer. "So you already have a cipher key...excellent. You'll be able to obtain the other one in no time at this rate. The second floor is where you'll get the second cipher key."

Pointing towards the direction of the Arena, he continues. "Head to the Arena. You should be able to access a new floor." Well, even if he hadn't appeared and said so, Hakuno had intended to go there anyway. Nevertheless, she thanks him and begins to walk away, but not before Kotomine gives her a new piece of information.

"Oh, I almost forgot to ask. Have you set foot in the chapel yet?" This question causes her to halt as she turns to face him once again. The chapel...did he mean the church-like building located by the gardens? "Well...no I haven't. Why?" she asks.

"The system's jurisdiction doesn't penetrate that far but...you can strengthen your servant there." The bomb in the room causes Hakuno's jaw to drop in disbelief. Had she heard right? You could make your servant stronger by heading to the chapel? How?

Was there some sort of ritual in there that increases a servant's overall power? In the first place, she had never considered the idea of strengthening a servant. Heck, she didn't even know it existed! She had just assumed that Archer's strength was limited to her abilities as his master.

Before she could question the priest more about it though, the man turns his back towards her and begins to walk away. "Well, I've said my piece. Go and slaughter to your heart's content." Hakuno wants to protest and stop him before he is able to fully walk away from her view, but decides against it. Knowing him, he'd probably want her to go to the chapel herself and investigate...and that is what the girl does as her feet begin taking her towards the gardens.

Opening the door, she finds herself surrounded amidst the colourful, blooming flowers, the fountain in the centre squirting water which shone against the sunlight. Looking around, she immediately spots the chapel, the huge building looking out of place with the peaceful atmosphere. Standing outside the door, she gives it a knock and waits. The minutes go by, and no response. Hakuno raises an eyebrow and frowns. Maybe there wasn't anyone inside?

However, when she places her hand against the door once again and gives it a push, it opens slightly with a creak. Hakuno withdraws her hand, staring at the building before her suspiciously. Well, now that she's here, she couldn't possibly just walk away. Besides, she doubted that Kotomine would lie on such a thing. Taking a deep breath, she steels herself for what was to come before pushing the door open and entering, the door firmly closing behind her.

The girl is seized with darkness as soon as she enters, with only the candles by the walls and the translucent glass windows by the side providing a glimmer of light to guide her. She looks around, surrounded by rows of wooden benches in a large church hall. Eerie organ music plays in the background, with a chandelier high above her head.

She looks across and manages to make out a large coloured glass window on the stage, showing what appeared to be the virtual moon outside despite it still being daytime. Hakuno gulps. Just what was this place had she had set foot into?

Though it gave a normal impression that this place was a place of worship and prayer, she couldn't help but feel a sense of unease. It almost feels as if this place was cut off from the rest of the world. Her eyes lower towards the stage, where she sees a flash of colours that almost hurt her eyes. There, present in the centre of the stage, was what appeared to be a large floating cube enclosed by red ribbons of data circling around it.

Hakuno stares at it with awe, slowly walking towards the stage with her hand stretched out to get a better look at it when a voice cuts through the atmosphere, the organ music in the background ending abruptly. "I wouldn't touch that if I were you." Hakuno freezes and sharply turns her body to the side where she heard the voice. Squinting, she can make out the figure of two women approaching her.

As soon as they're close enough that Hakuno can properly see them, the girl stares back at the two women who definitely didn't look like nuns. One of them had short blue hair in a bob cut with fair skin and spectacles to frame her deep blue irises perfectly, wearing a violet sweater with long white pants. The other woman on the other hand, had a slightly paler complexion with long blood red hair and matching irises, dressed in a simple grey hoodie and long cream coloured jeans.

"Hey there, welcome to the chapel. You're here to perform an Alteration of the Soul?" the red-haired female began as they both took a seat in between in large cube. "Ah...you're that...what was it again? ...Odd, I can't remember the last time I forgot something. Well, it's not like the details matter. The more test subjects, the better, I always say," the blue-haired female mutters, before properly facing Hakuno. "Welcome to the Eden of the East. I assume you're here for an Alteration of the Soul?"

Hakuno blanks out at her question. Alteration of the Soul? What was that supposed to mean? Was it a ritual of some sort? Realizing that she has no clue as how to answer, the red-haired female sighs and shakes her head. "You don't know what an Alteration of the Soul is, but came here anyway? Amateur."

The blue-haired female on the other hand, pays no heed to her companion's insult as she straightens her spectacles. "Alteration of the Soul...what is it you ask? Hmm..." Though she takes a moment to think, she eventually begins explaining. "Simply put, we link a master's soul to their servant's. When a master's rank increases, we can strengthen the link. That's done by hacking into each soul and choosing what to improve."

So Kotomine was right...one could actually strengthen their servant by coming here...though the process seems more complicated than she thought. Though the girl has some questions she'd like to raise herself, she decided to stay silent and listen on.

"In an Alteration of the Soul, you can improve your servant's overall strength and power by using Skill Points that you earn in the Arena by defeating various enemy programs. In addition, once a certain number of skill points is used, your servant can gain powerful special skills. These skills your servant gains will be useful in battle in making your foes easier to defeat. As such, we'd recommend that you come here to frequently strengthen your servant, especially before the Elimination Battles." Wow, to think that she's stumbled across such an amazing place thanks to the priest...Hakuno couldn't have asked for more at a time like this!

"Well...it's like my sister said. My job is to perform Alterations made possible by various events. You get the gist of it right? If you want to do an Alteration of the Soul, just let me know," the red-haired woman adds. Sisters...so were these two really related? I mean, from the way they were dressed and how they talked Hakuno doubted that she meant 'sister' in a religious sense. However, before she could question her, Hakuno senses a wave of hatred from the two that almost seems to engulf the entire place with its heavy tension.

"As for that creature over there, she's totally useless..like 8-track tapes or C/ prompt. In fact, you'd best ignore her," the red-haired girl goes on. "And you're lower than dirt. Don't screw up or the Moon Cell will come down on you...again," the blue-haired female interrupts, crossing her arms over her chest. The red-haired girl practically glares at the woman, her eyes full of venom.

"Gah! How many times do I have to tell that the Master was at fault...that time! They specifically told me to do quasi-legal alterations, so I just added a few...extra skills." Hakuno sweatdrops as the fight got more intense with each passing second. She felt relieved at the idea of Archer getting stronger but...now that she's watching the two bicker with each other, she's starting to doubt that coming here was the best idea, especially after learning how the red-haired female handled the alterations so recklessly.

"Hmph, laugh now, but it wouldn't be funny to the person who lost because of your towering incompetence." Turning her attention back to Hakuno, the blue-haired female speaks. "Listen well, girl. If you value your life, do not put your trust into that thing's abilities. If I were you, I'd stick to regaining the spiritual statuses that your servant may have lost-" "Well then, what do you say we try an Alteration right now?" the red-haired female interrupts.

Hakuno looks back and forth between the two. Should she really go with such a process? Then again, if this was the only way to make Archer stronger...

"Then...what am I supposed to do?" Hakuno finally asks. Looking relieved, the red-haired girl gestures towards the cube. "Have your servant stand here and touch this cube first. That way I can start linking his soul to the device and then we can begin the procedure." Nodding, Hakuno asks for Archer to appear as he walks towards the cube and touches it with his hand. As soon as he does this, a virtual computer appears in front of the red-haired female as she begins typing.

After a few minutes, she looks away from the screen to Hakuno. "Alrighty, it's done. Now you need to come over and register yourself as his master before you can verify what to improve in his overall stats and parameters." Listening to her instructions, Hakuno walks over and does what she's told.

Soon, after the verification had been completed, Hakuno looks over the various skills and stats that she can improve or level up for her servant. _"Hmm...it'll be best to increase his attack and defense parameters for now. I'll probably come back to increase his other parameters after I'm able to obtain more skill points in the Arena,"_ she thinks.

After telling the red-haired female her commands, the red-haired female initiates them as a swirl of red data begins to envelope her servant. "Ok, the process should be good to go. Now all you need to do is to hold your servant's hand to it to complete." Silence fills the air as Hakuno (and Archer) blanks out. No, she was probably mishearing things. "...W-What?"

"You need to hold his hand for the process to complete," the red-haired woman repeats, raising her eyebrows at the now flustered master. "Huh?? W-Why should I need to do that?!" Archer's eyes widen at his master's sudden outburst; she had reacted more strongly than he had anticipated...and she herself was aware of that.

"You need to hold onto your servant's hand so that I can link both of your souls to the device. It's also proof of your master-servant bond. I don't see why you're getting so worked up," the blue-haired female explains. "That's...is that really necessary?" Hakuno asks. "It's an essential step in the altering process. If you cannot do that, the process cannot fully proceed," the blue-haired female replies.

"There's nothing too intimate about it really. The two of you are just holding hands. What's there to worry about some physical contact? In most processes where transfer of magic is involved, masters and servants will be doing more than just 'holding hands' y'know," the red-haired female teases. Hakuno bites down on her bottom lip. The two of them had a point.

Besides, this was for both her and Archer's sake. It wasn't like there was any hidden meaning involved in them holding hands. Right, this was just holding hands and nothing more. There was no need for her to act like some panicky highschool girl in a shoujo manga!

Giving herself a mental pep talk, she slowly approaches her servant and in one swift motion, takes ahold of his hand. Almost instantly, the girl can tell how significantly larger and warmer his servant's hand felt when compared to her own. Looking away, the girl tries not to squirm or think too much about it as she could feel the heat at the back of her neck. It's just holding hands, it's just holding hands...did the girl continuously repeat in her head.

Why was she getting all flustered in the first place?? It was just her servant for pete's sake! It wasn't like he was her lover or anything of the sort! Was it because of her somewhat loner personality that such simple things like holding hands easily made her embarassed?! Darn it! "Ok...I'll begin the procedure now. Please wait for a few minutes."

After what seemed like an eternity, the red-haired female gave the thumbs up to signal that the procedure was done as Hakuno immediately released her hand from his, thankful that it was over. It was at this moment that her terminal begins beeping loudly as Hakuno takes it out to read the notification that was sent.

Eyeing the screen, she sees that her servant's parameters had gone up by a rank, and that he had gained back the skills 'Red Hound- Weaken' as well as 'Pre-projection'. Tapping onto the 'Pre-projection' option, she reads the description:

 _"The effectiveness and accuracy of projection is the key to victory in battle. The effectiveness of Projection can be enhanced by first using the Pre-projection skill. Also, different skills require that option to be at a certain level, otherwise they cannot be used. The higher the projection level, the more powerful the related skill."_ Huh...what a unique skill. All conditions aside, it was great knowing that at least now Archer will be able to fight with more ease in the Arena. "The tuning of my magic circuits went well. I've gotten two skills back. Let's test them out in the Arena," Archer suggested, walking towards her.

"So then...need another Alteration? Or are you satisfied?" the red-haired female asks. Hakuno shakes her head vigorously; there was no way she was go through that again right after the process had just been completed. "Ah...no, we're alright for now...but thanks..." She stops midsentence, realizing that she had yet found out about their names.

"The name's Touko Aozaki. And she's Aoko Aozaki. But our names aren't that important. For now, head to the Arena and try fighting some enemy programs. Even if the change is small, you'll definitely see it," Touko replies, a smirk on her lips as she waves Hakuno off. With a bow, Hakuno thanks the two of them and begins walking off.

What an odd pair she had met. However, she was glad that the procedure was done and over. Now all she needs to focus on is obtaining those books from the Arena. Opening the door, she is barely able to take a step out from the chapel when she hears someone yelling the the gardens. Turninh her head, she blinks in surprise when she sees Shinji along with some fellow female NPCs yet again causing more trouble...as usual. And this time he seems to be bickering with an old man too.

"...A chapel is for quiet reflection. I do not know who your god is, but you should know that much," the old man scolds sternly in a calm manner. Shinji scratches his head and without so much as seeming apologetic, replies, "Sorry, my bad. I'm an atheist...swear to god!" From the conversation alone, it seemed as though Shinji had been thrown out from the chapel after angering the old man.

"...Hmph. I have always believed that the Japanese were polite. I guess I was misled." With that said, the old man turns his back to Shinji. "Leave this place at once. The gates of heaven shall remain closed to the unbeliever. It appears that in your haste to fight, you forgot to learn dignity and respect," the man quietly utters in disappointment as he walks up the steps towards her.

Hakuno kindly moves away to let him in, the man's eyes meeting hers for a brief moment. "Thank you young one," he says, with Hakuno tipping her head in reply as the man continues walking into the chapel before he eventually takes a seat on one of the benches in the front row, his head bowed and his hands clasped together in prayer.

Hakuno, making her way outside while gently closing the door behind her, looks out to see Shinji already walking away with the NPCs following closely behind him. The man angrily stomps away towards the door leading back to the school building, clicking his tongue in frustration. "I really hate old geezers like him, always talking down on me! When it comes to fighting, you can bet your ass that I'll be teaching him a thing or two!" he spats shortly before he storms into the building, the door slamming behind him. "Wow, what a kid. To think that an old man's lecture could get him that upset...guess he really is an idiot," Archer comments a second later, with Hakuno sighing as she gave a nod.

Upon returning to the school building, she hears her terminal beeping. Taking the device out, she eyes the message displayed on it: _"The second cipher key has been generated on the second floor of the Arena."_ Huh...so this was what Kotomine mentioned. If that were the case, she'd better head to the Arena soon. But before that, the girl decided to stop by the commissary for some supplies.

After getting the items she needed, Hakuno proceeds to the door leading to the Arena. Standing in front of it, she places her head on the doorknob just as a window appears before her with two options:

 _"Head to the Arena?_

 _\- Head to the First Floor_

 _-Head to the Second Floor"_

Choosing the second option, she twists the doorknob and pushes the door open, a light blinding her sight as she walks forward to enter the Arena, well aware that she only had 3 days left into the preparation period before the fated Elimination Battle

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

 **First Chimeric Lunar Sea- Second Floor**

 **Arena Level 08**

 _Greed and lust combine to burst into brilliance, and lead onward to the sepulcher of the sea._

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

Upon entering the Arena, Hakuno could definitely tell that the second floor seemed different compared to the first. Looking towards the walls, she can make out what appeared to be underwater sealife, with the entire floor submerged within it. There would probably be more stronger enemy programs lying in wait around the area too, with the trigger being more difficult to obtain.

Her servant had already materialized by her side, and was also looking around to inspect the area. "Hmm...it seems that they've managed to make it this far as well. Their presence is...unmistakable," he comments. Looking around, the master didn't sense any prana around the area unlike the last time the two ran into Shinji and his servant.Then again, they could just be concealing their presence...so she couldn't afford to let her guard down.

"It'd really suck if they ambush us as we return to campus later on, so it'll be best if we deal with them now," Archer suggests. Hakuno frowns at his idea. The last time they tried to do so, the two only ended up getting their asses handed to them. She didn't wanna sound pessimistic but...she doubted that even with Archer's power up were they able to face Shinji and his servant on equal terms.

"Master, I'm not suggesting that we fight them now. What I'm saying is that we should try to find that book before that little punk and his servant find us," Archer explains. Oh, so he meant a completely different thing. Well, it was reassuring to know that Archer wasn't thinking of going head to head with them again unlike last time. Agreeing with his plan, the two decided to head onwards.

While jogging down the Arena, Hakuno halts. Was it just her or did she see an enemy program in the distance? Taking out her terminal, she looks through the map. Odd, she swore that she saw an enemy program but...there's nothing there in her terminal map.

"Master...what's wrong? Did something catch your attention?" Archer questions. "Ah no...it's just...I could've sworn I saw an enemy program over there but...there's apparently nothing on the terminal's map." Pointing at the direction of where she saw it, Archer squints. "Well would you look at that...I see it too." "Huh?! You too?!" Were they both just seeing things, or was there some sort of bug in her terminal that prevented her from seeing the full layout of the Arena?

"...There's only one way to find out Master." Walking towards the enemy program that was at the other side of the wall, Hakuno widens her eyes in disbelief. Was Archer attempting to...go through the wall?!

Before she could stop her servant from possibly injuring himself however, the man manages to literally walk through the wall as more wall and floor panels begin to magically appear before him. Hakuno's jaw drops in surprise as she watches Archer continue to walk until he came head to head with the enemy program, engaging it in battle. No way...her servant had just discovered a hidden passage?!

After thoroughly exploring the hidden passageway and encountering several enemy programs on their way out back towards the path indicated on the terminal map, Hakuno and Archer were faced with their first problem. The girl frowns, looking up and down as she points at the red gate blocking their way. "...The path is completely sealed off. What do we do now?" After going about in circles and even checking the map on her terminal, Hakuno confirmed that this was the only path they had to continue.

However, with the path blocked by the gate, it seemed impossible to move forward...and that seemed anything but good. Climbing over the wall didn't seem like an option either, since the gate's height was from the floor to the ceiling itself...and destroying the gate also wasn't possible. "Hmm...there should be some mechanism somewhere that could open the gate...otherwise Shinji and his servant also wouldn't be able to go further in," Archer concludes after thinking for a while.

"A mechanism? Like...a switch or something?" "Yeah. Let's look around the area a little more. Maybe the mechanism's located somewhere near the gate." And true enough to his words, the pair soon encounters a button located at the far end, guarded by an enemy program.

Upon defeating said program and pressing the button, the gate opens. "Wow, were you good with maze puzzles back when you were alive?" Hakuno asks jokingly as they proceeded. "What does that have to do with this?" her servant asks with raised eyebrows. Yeah well, she figured that he couldn't take a joke.

The two continued to explore the Arena floor, killing off tons of enemy programs in the process and uncovering item folders holding various items and formal wear. After 2 hours, the two found themselves at a dead end, with the books yet to be uncovered. Archer sighs, the swords disappearing from his hands as Hakuno falls to her knees in exhaustion.

"It doesn't make any sense. We've been exploring the area from top to bottom and still nothing. Not only that, but we've come across yet another gate but this time...with no mechanism to open it. We're practically stuck here at this rate," Archer says in irritation, placing a hand to his forehead.

Hakuno bites on her thumb, trying to think. Shinji said that he'd hidden the books somewhere on this floor...so it was obvious that the books wouldn't just be in plain sight for them to find. She recalls what he had told her back in the library. _"I just thought that you'd have more fun getting the info you want, so I hid every book somewhere in the Arena. Although, I wonder if a weaksauce master like you can even find them in the first place."_

The girl pauses, suddenly thinking of a possibility. It did seem a little far-fetched, but that was the only idea she could think up of at this moment. "...You don't think...there's a hidden space somewhere, do you?" Archer looks at her, raising his eyebrows. "Huh? What makes you think of that Master?"

"I mean...we've looked through the entire area and couldn't find anything. Besides, knowing Shinji, he'd probably find the books in a place hidden off from the map so we wouldn't be able to locate them." "Hmm...you may be right about that but...how are we gonna find this hidden space when it's hidden in the first place?"

Standing up, Hakuno carefully begins looking around. _"Think...where would he hide them?"_ Her eyes scan the area for a few minutes before they stop, her chocolate brown irises fixed on a tiny glint in a distance. "...It's there!" she points, running forward. "Ah...wait, Master...that's-"

As if right on point, her body manages to pass through a certain panel on the wall, her feet carrying her to the other end before... _*SMACK!*_ Her body ends up falling butt-first onto the ground (and that was the sound of her face smashing against the wall). Hakuno lies there, clearly disoriented by the blow before she grasps her red forehead and nose and writhes in pain a few seconds later. "Owwww...!"

Archer quickly catches up to her and looks down at her master's state still on the ground. "Wow, that was certainly a good blow. Was that a new self-defense technique you wanted to show me Master?" he asks sarcastically, trying his best not to snicker. Hakuno glares up at him and fails to come up with a witty response as she massages her now red forehead and nose. "Oh, quit it with your teasing! I did see something over there!" she replies, pointing in the direction of the glint she saw.

Archer frowns and squints his eyes at where Hakuno was pointing. "...And so you thought that the best idea was to run forward without a care in the world? What if there was a trap lying in wait there instead?" he asks slowly. "That's...well we won't know until we go there and find out!" Drowning out her complaints, Archer continues to stare at the glint, before he presses his hand against the wall where Hakuno banged into. "...Are you even listening...??" Hakuno pauses to ask with a sigh when she finally realizes him ignoring her.

"...You're right about that Master. But with this wall here in the way, it doesn't seem like we can proceed," he finally says. Hakuno bites on her lower lip; he did have a point. "Then...what should we do? We've gotta find a way to get there...or don't tell me you intend for us to just give up and return to the school building, especially since it was your idea that we find the books anyway."

"...I've got an idea. Stand back Master." Hakuno blinks, obviously confused. A plan?What could he be thinking about? Did he see another path nearby that they could take to get there? Then why did he ask her to-

In an instant, Archer catches her unaware as he summons his swords in hand. Hakuno's eyes widen drastically as she jumps back just as Archer's swords connect with the wall, shattering it to virtual shards. The girl remains in mute shock for a few seconds as the swords vanish from his hands, the man now smirking. "...Wha...what did you just do?! Why did you do that?!" she finally asks. "What? I just cleared the path for us to continue on like you wanted...or was that not your original intention?"

"No! I mean...how...why did you destroy the wall there?! I didn't even know you could do that!" Hakuno's mind raced with worry at the thought of the SE.RA.PH inflicting some sort of punishment on them for literally wrecking havoc on the arena grounds. Archer raises an eyebrow at her reaction. "...Just so you know, this is a virtually programmed wall not by the system, so cutting it down wouldn't affect us in any way."

Hakuno pauses at his reply, totally dumbfounded. "...W-What? What do you mean 'not by the system'? Who could've programmed it then?" "Probably that cowardly dumbass. This wall seemed out of place to begin with, and there wasn't any switch to deactivate it too, meaning that Shinji conjured this wall up. He had no intentions of letting you waltz in that space even if you found it." It all made sense now. To think that Shinji would go so low as to even prevent them from getting the books...what a jerk!

As much as she'd like to complain about him, they really had to get to that place. God knows how long they've been staying in the the arena. Determined than ever, Hakuno runs through the path (again without caring of Archer's warning) and ends up in a small enclosed space, her servant joining her a moment later. "Master, you should've been more patient! What would've happened if an enemy program was lying in wait here to attack you?!" Archer scolds.

His warning however, failed to register in Hakuno's ears. Paying no heed to him, Hakuno quickly approaches the item folder placed by the corner. Touching it, the item folder emits a blinding light, startling the brown-haired master as she covers her eyes and quickly backs away, distancing herself just as the light died down. "...! Master, get down!"

Hakuno, yet to even open her eyes, follows her servant's order on reflex as she ducks, her ears hearing the sound of Archer's swords clashing against something as her eyes pop open. Standing just two feet away from her was her servant who was now engaged with an enemy program, a rather large one in the form of a giant, hulking fish. "W-What the-!" Where on earth did the enemy appear from?! Did it pop out of the item folder earlier?!

She doesn't even have time to comprehend the sudden situation they were in as Archer kicks the enemy program away, nailing a few attacks at it with enough force to send the enemy program crashing against the Arena walls. The enemy program, although injured, quickly regains itself as it bolts at alarming speed towards the servant clad in red.

Thinking quickly, Hakuno opens her terminal and equips one of her Mystic codes, immediately stunning the enemy program as it was about to attack Archer. The enemy program abruptly halts its movement, unable to move whatsoever due to the Mystic Code's effect, letting out a mechanical-sounding cry of fury. Her servant uses this opening to finish the enemy program off, landing a couple more hard blows before the enemy program eventually fizzles out into data.

Archer sighs, possibly in relief, as the swords vanish in his hand just as he walks over towards Hakuno, still somewhat shocked over what had just taken place. "T-That enemy program came out of nowhere," she mutters, her eyesbrows creasing to form a frown. "More like it came out from the item folder. I warned you earlier to not move about irrationally and do as you like, but it seems that you still didn't listen," Archer scolds, giving her a good flick on the forehead.

Hakuno yelps, her mouth open with the intention to protest when her attention goes back to the item folder, her eyes spotting a large, faded journal. The girl, slowly approaching it, takes ahold of the item carefully. There it was, in her hands. The book that Shinji was so desperate to hide was none other than a diary of some sort written on sheaves of parchment.

Flipping through the pages, she confirms that the book is indeed genuine and not some fake item planted by Shinji to trick them. Though the book is worm out to a point where the ink has begun to fade, Hakuno can make out the name of a ship, the **_Golden Hind_** , along with the names of several islands and the partial manifests of hijacked ships.

This must be a ship's log of a pirate that sailed the high seas. Seeing that Shinji was unable to destroy the folder and had to hide it in this space, Hakuno assumed that this book was probably a very powerful program too. "Hmm...her true name has faded away, but this diary should prove to be very valuable in discovering her identity," Archer muses to himself, looking at the book's contents over her shoulder. "...Then this means..."

"...I can see why the boy wanted to hide it, even going as far as to place an enemy program to safeguard the journal. In fact, this place speaks volumes about that idiot." Taking a brief look around, Archer spots the button mechanism for the second gate as he walks over and pushes it. "This is definitely a spot where someone like him would hide such a book. It seems like it was worth the time searching for such an item."

Hakuno nods and begins inputting the journal into her terminal, the item fading from her hands a moment later. Now with this out of the way, she can focus on obtaining the trigger-

"...Damn it! I didn't expect you to find it so soon Hakuno!" Eyes widening, Hakuno whirls around sharply to see Shinji and his servant standing across them, with Archer quickly standing in front of his master, swords materialized in hand. "Shinji!"

The man pulls at his hair angrily, grinding his teeth in frustration. "And to think that I went through all the trouble of bringing it down here...yet you were still able to find it!" Glaring at her viciously, Shinji lets out a sinister laugh. "...Oh well, I'll just have to take it back from you now! Hand it over Hakuno!" he demands.

Hakuno takes a step back, clenching at hands into fists as she glares back at him. "...And what makes you think we'd do that?!" she retorts, causing Shinji's eyes to widen in disbelief at her actually defying him. "...Heh. You must be getting desperate if you're going so far as to search for a book in a place like this! Too bad for you! You came all this way for me to yank that book away from you! And I'd suggest you do it now before things get ugly!"

Though Hakuno seems worried, Archer calmly watches the exchange before deciding to intervene. "...What's wrong? I expected you to follow up with your jackass-like braying, but maybe you're actually worried?"

Shinji's face crumples like a paper ball with more boiling anger as he stomps his foot on the ground and points his finger threateningly at Archer. "Why you...! I'll show you what happens when you piss me off!" Glaring back at his servant, he gestures towards her angrily. "Don't just stand there, go kill the both of them now!" he yells. His servant, looking disinterested, sighs as she readies her twin pistols.

"It's lecture time, Master. Using my blade, I will show him the consequences of giving away information," Archer says just as a familiar blue string of data stretches out over the horizon, covering the perimeter as the four were engulfed, now enclosed within a large open space.

Shinji's servant wastes no time as she begins shooting at Archer. Archer parries her attacks and unlike last time, seems more confident as he begins dashing towards her. Dodging her attacks, he nails a blow at her exposed shoulder. Surprised, the female servant's eye narrowed dangerously as she kicked Archer away, eyeing the large bleeding scar.

The servant didn't have time to worry however, because Archer had recovered almost instantly and was now dashing towards her once again. The man jumps into the air, avoiding another hail of bullets as he attempts to punch her, but missed as the female servant twists her head to the side and kicks Archer away once again.

Rider attempts to aim at Archer's legs as she continuously fires at them. However, sensing her plans, Archer manages to deflect most of them, with only some of them nicking him here and there as he charges in and knocks one of the pistols off her hands in one swift motion. She grits her teeth, slamming his fist into his torso to reel him back.

Meanwhile, Hakuno watched as the two servants exchanged blows, making careful glances towards Shinji now and then. Seeing that his servant was now somewhat struggling only made him angrier. "What the hell are you doing?! Use your skills against him!"

Upon his command, the female servant smirks as she distances herself from the servant clad in red. "Roger that!" With a snap of her fingers, Hakuno could see discs of light appear behind the pink-haired woman, before large cannons began emerging from them. Eyes going large in horror, she twists her head towards her servant. She was planning to shoot cannonballs at him?! There was no way he was gonna survive such an attack with no cover!

Archer however, had a plan. Dashing to the side, he quickly zooms in towards the servant. "Hmph, you're too late! Take this, culverin cannons!" With a loud blast, Shinji's servant sends a hail of cannonballs towards him. Hakuno could only watch in utter terror as Archer was about to get maimed by the giant cannonballs.

At the very last second before she yelled her attack however, Archer had already thrown his swords towards her direction. While Shinji's servant had jumped out of the way to avoid them, she didn't realize that he could control the direction in which they were moving, and the blades began closing in at her exposed back.

As if time had stopped, Hakuno watched as Shinji's servant gave a surprised gasp of pain, the blades embedding themselves straight into her back as the cannons disappeared along with the cannonballs just before they hit Archer. Shinji watched in disbelief as his servant dropped to her knees just as the warning from the system came in, terminating the fight.

"N-No way...how could she possibly get hurt?" Turning to face Hakuno, he glares at her once again. "D-Don't start getting cocky now! And anyway, the SE.RA.PH is watching! I'll be victorious in the end!" With no other retort he could give, Shinji quickly takes out what appears to be a return crystal and vanishes a second later along with his servant.

"Wow, I expected a pathetic excuse from him but..." Putting away his swords, Archer gives him a moment to straighten himself up before he continues. "...Anyway, I've realized a few things during my fight with her. First off, that book indeed must to be his servant's...and it appears to be a ship's log. And judging from the ship's battery that his servant had unleashed earlier...her prowess with vehicles is really advanced. That means by without a doubt she is a Rider."

A Rider...that class did seem to match up with Archer's claims. In fact, Hakuno had to silently applaud for him being able to figure out such an important detail in the midst of battle. Is that what they call strategic thinking? As soon as Archer finishes explaining, Hakuno hears the familiar high-pitched ringing of her terminal. Taking it out, she sees that her terminal had deemed the information useful, and her matrix had been updated to level three.

"Well, now that we've got what we came for, I don't see any problems with taking off now, although we could go track down the trigger now too. Stay and search or go and rest, it's up to you." Hakuno gave it some thought, but eventually decided to stay and continue searching for the trigger. They had come so far, so they might as well continue.

After hours of running around, not only did Hakuno manage to locate Taiga's tangerine, but she also managed to locate the trigger. The metal object glimmers in the light as a window pops up below it to reveal its name: Trigger Code Beta. "Alright, so we managed to track down both triggers, or cipher keys as Kotomine likes to call them. If we want to ensure that we get all the triggers in the future, we'd betted make sure to thoroughly scour the Arena. There's no rest for the weary," Archer reminds as she absorbs the trigger into her terminal.

With this, her participation in the Elimination Battle at the end of the week is guaranteed. Though Hakuno still had her worries and doubts, she felt slightly more confident than before after watching Archer in action today. Feeling both satisfied and exhausted, the two decided to head back to the school building.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

Night had descended upon Tsukumihara Academy when the duo returned. Heading back up to their private room, Hakuno decides to turn in early after a quick, hot shower. She winces as she touches the spot where her forehead connected with the wall in the arena earlier; one thing was for sure, that blow would certainly leave a bruise if not for the healing fountain.

"Does it still hurt?" Surprised, Hakuno whirls around just as Archer's fingers brush along her forehead where she had just touched. She stares back at him with those big doe eyes of hers, opening her mouth and closing it again after a few seconds. "Ah...well, thanks to the healing fountain, the pain should go away by tomorrow after a good night's rest," she finally replies.

"...I see." Opening the kit box, she watches Archer rummage through it before her irises move away to stare at her hands, playing with her fingers. "...Ok. Master, can you face this way?" Hakuno didn't realize she had been zoning out as she turns to face the man.

Surprising her yet again, Archer slowly moves closer towards her and bends down until he was at eye level, his face slowly but surely drawing towards hers. Hakuno's eyes were practically bulging out of her head as he leaned in. "W-Wait...Archer...what...?!" He couldn't possibly be...?! No, that was way too sudden even for her!

However, just as she shut her eyes, the girl feels something being placed on her forehead. Choosing to pop one eye open, she sees her servant smirking at her. "Why're you so stiff? I only placed a band-aid on your forehead...or were you expecting something else?"

Hakuno could feel her cheeks flaring up as she quickly brushes Archer's hand away to touch her forehead. That surprised her! To think that she was expecting him to almost...! "I was not!" she retorted, earning a laugh from him as he placed the first aid kit back on the table beside her bed, heading back to his throne of chairs as Hakuno continued to pout at him. Oh, how she hated his teasing!

With her head hitting the pillow, the girl could already feel the drowsiness attacking her despite her body feeling numb and heavy. "I still don't have much power at my disposal. You saw what happened when we attacked that low-level loser." Opening her eyes, she looks over at her servant who was glancing at the window. It was undeniable that Archer fought well today, but it was also true that they still had a long way to go. Hakuno had to be vigilant, and can't afford to relax just yet.

"Well, all that matters today is that you got the feel of the importance of information. That, and you probably noticed that half the prep period has passed," Archer continues before giving a yawn; he must be quite tired after today as well. Nodding, Hakuno's eyes begin to fall with increasing exhaustion as she quietly wishes Archer good night before falling into a deep slumber.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

Archer watched from the corner of his eye as his master's face turned pink at the red-haired female's instructions. Though her reaction was unexpected, he couldn't blame her. The man himself was also feeling awkward at their current situation.

It wasn't like he was embarassed to be holding onto her hand per se, but the whole prospect of holding hands just for an Alteration of the Soul seemed...odd for him. However, what he didn't expect was for his master to actually take ahold of his hand.

The minute she does so, Archer can feel how soft, smooth and dainty her hand was in comparison to his. He held onto her hand carefully, feeling like it would break like fragile glass in his grasp if he were to hold it any tighter than he did. It almost felt nostalgic to say...like he was back to those times where he held onto the hands of his previous master-

Shaking his head, Archer forces himself to think of anything but _her_. Why did she even pop up in his head again anyway? It was ridiculous that he could even begin thinking about her whilst he was holding onto his master's hand. To think that holding onto someone's hand could shake him off so much made him somewhat ashamed of himself.

Looking over, he can see how tense his master was, her eyes casting downwards towards her shoes. He did know that she was probably feeling embarassed.

...What he didn't know however, was the thoughts that were going through her mind at that time, the girl's face a hue of red underneath the bangs that obscurred her eyes, her heart thumping wildly in her chest.


	21. Nightmare

_The girl held a hand close to her chest as she gulped, beads of sweat forming on her forehead. Her eyes were focused on the horizon, her chocolate brown irises fixed on a red blur speeding through the area as it dodged a hail of bullets._

 _Her heart was hammering against her chest that she could her the loud thumping of her heartbeat in her ears. The red blur was doing a good job in defending itself from the onslaught of attacks, dashing in all sorts of directions while parrying the bullets every now and then, but it was clear that the red blur was struggling and was slowly but surely losing the battle._

 _An evil cackle resounded in the air, causing her to spin around sharply to meet its source. There, standing smugly as always, was Shinji, with a hand on his hip and a confident smirk on his lips. The girl eyed him in mute terror as he gave another laugh, his eyes portraying an indescribable expression of bloodlust._

 _Taking a menacing step towards her, Shinji begins to speak. "Haha, you didn't really think that you could defeat me, did you...Hakuno?" His question rang painfully in her ears as her breathing quickened. The girl wanted to run away from him, but found that her feet had been promptly nailed to the ground._

 _The sharp sound of seething steel causes her to turn her head in the direction of the red blur again. Her eyes widened, her mouth agape as her dilated pupils watched the red blur stop moving, eventually falling to the ground. She wants to call out to it, but found that her voice had died in her throat._

 _A pain rips throughout her being as the girl collapses hard onto the ground. Confused, the girl shakily looks down at her legs, only to see that they had been embedded with bullets, bleeding profusely as the crimson liquid was already seeping into her skirt. She takes a moment to gingerly touch her wounded legs, looking at her red-stained fingertips in horror. She manages a strangled noise of utter pain, tears already running down her cheeks like a fountain at the burning sensation. It hurt, it hurt so much. Never did she think she could ever feel such agonizing pain._

 _A shadow looms over her as she slowly looks up to see Shinji and his servant looking down at her, with Shinji still wearing that smirk of his. "Looks like I win. Oh well, the end result was pretty obvious. After all...you're nothing but a weakling, Hakuno." More pain shot through her body as she winced, feeling the bullets pierce through her arms and torso as she fell unceremoniously to the ground._

 _The tears hadn't stopped as she began to cry. Why was this happening to her? No, she didn't want to die...not yet! Staring at the pistol aimed at her forehead, Hakuno's eyes bulged in fear as she struggled to beg for her life to be spared, finding that no words would come out of her mouth. "Now...die."_

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Archer awoke to the sound of sobbing.

The man was quick to get up, utterly confused but on high alert as he scanned his surroundings. It was still quite early in the morning, with the sky still dark as night. The man quickly caught sight of his master on the bed in a sitting position, her hands covering her face as the girl let out soft hiccups.

Without another second to spare, the servant was already by her side, bending on one knee so he could be on eye level with her. "Master, are you ok? What happened?" When the girl didn't respond, Archer placed a hand on her arm, only for her to twitch and violently pull away from his touch as soon as she felt the contact of his fingers, scooting away slightly to distance herself from him.

Archer couldn't help but feel a twang of hurt himself at how she rejected him so quickly at the mere brush of his fingertips on her arm, but there were more pressing matters to address at the moment. "Master, what happened? Please tell me what's wrong," he tried again, trying to prompt her as gently as he could at the moment.

The girl shook her head, rubbing her eyes, a clear indication of not wanting to tell him anything. Seeing that he wasn't going to get any answers out from her, Archer slowly moved over and tried to pry her hands from her face, feeling her tense up once again as she tried to struggle against his hold, her cries escaping her open lips in a frenzy.

"Master, calm yourself down. It's just me...!" Darn it, just what the heck happened to her?! Did someone break into their room without him noticing and had attacked her?? No, that couldn't be possible; Archer would've sensed something like that immediately. Then what could-

Finally managing to pull her hands away from her face, he could see how distraught she was. Her eyes were red and sore from crying, with tears still freely streaming down her face, her nose and cheeks also a hue of bright red. But what concerned him the most was how frightened the girl looked, the obvious fear that showed on her face as her shoulders shook with each breath she took.

Ok, now he really needed to know what was going on. Personal privacy be damned, he was gonna question her until she did tell him. Nosy or not, he wasn't gonna just go back to sleep and pretend that his master was alright when she clearly wasn't. "Master, you need to tell me...otherwise I won't know what's going on," he says slowly, careful not to raise his voice at the already scared girl.

Hakuno continued to shake her head, the tears pouring down her cheeks as her lips quivered. She manages to force out a sentence, her voice dry and cracked as she croaked out, "I'm fine, really."

"For someone who's crying her eyes out, you don't look 'fine' to me," Archer retorted, his patience starting to wear thin. Dang it, why won't she just tell him what was wrong already?? Was she worried that he might laugh at her or something??

"No, it's...nothing really...just..." Her voice came out in between hiccups and sobs, and soon enough she found herself unable to speak as she broke down in front of her servant, more hot tears escaping her eyes as she shut them tight.

Her servant went quiet as she continued to cry. Hakuno was well aware of her embarassing actions, that she was a blubbering mess. However, she couldn't stop the salty drops of liquid from escaping her eyes as she clenched her hands into fists. She kept her head low, feeling the tears soak the blanket. The girl honestly didn't know whether to feel scared or embarassed.

It was then that she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her body went stiff involuntarily, her head still kept low as memories of what she had had dreamt began resurfacing in her head. "...It's ok Master. Whatever happened...it's over. I'm here," she heard Archer's voice quietly mutter through the darkness.

Surprised, she finally manages to look up at him slowly through teary eyes after a minute or two. There, before her was her servant, with a comforting hand on her shoulder as his thumb ran slow, gentle circles around it, a look of concern on his features. The girl continued to stare at him through her blurry vision, obviously taken aback by his gesture.

"I'm here...so there's no need to be frightened," he repeated, staring at her seriously. His other hand released her wrist before patting the back of her hand in a soothing manner. "I'm here...so don't be afraid." Slowly but surely, the girl's body relaxed and despite the fact that tears were still escaping the edge of her eyes, the girl manages to give a nod.

The two continued to remain like that, until Archer eventually piped up. "Now, it would be great if you could tell me what happened master." Hakuno's eyebrows knitted together in a frown as she bit on her lower lip, slowly tilting her head downwards in a futile effort to stop the rain of tears that was still flowing from her eyes.

"Master..." Slowly and very gently, as gently as he could, Archer slowly placed both of his hands on her face as she slowly tilted her head back up to face him, using his thumbs and index fingers to brush away her tears as best as he could.

Hakuno could feel the warmth of his palms and the cold feeling of his fingertips against her cheeks. "...I am your servant. As your servant, it is my duty to protect you at all times. I won't laugh, nor will I scold or get angry with you. I am simply asking you to tell me what's troubling you," he says, his voice kept low and quiet.

It was then that she could see the earnest sincerity in his eyes, the worry never leaving his features as he continued to gently prompt her. Gulping, she allowed herself a moment for her breathing to even, for her to collect her thoughts before she uttered in a voice so soft it was almost an inaudible whisper, "...I had...a nightmare."

"A nightmare? About what...?" Archer asks, his hands still gently cocooning her cheeks. Bringing her hands to hold his, Archer could feel them shaking as she took a sharp inhale of breath. "I-It was...nothing really. I just...dreamt...that we were facing the Elimination battle...and fighting against Shinji and Rider."

She paused, unsure of how to continue without potentially breaking down in front of her servant again. "You...you were fighting against her, but...you lost, and...then..." Hakuno blinked rapidly, more tears already forming as she went on. "Rider...she...shot me and...I was covered in blood and..."

Another hiccup escaped her lips as she began to tear up, withdrawing her hands to try and cover her eyes. "It...the pain felt so real. She shot all my limbs and my abdomen and it felt so painful...and...I couldn't do anything at all! I felt so powerless, so useless...!" Before she could stop herself, the girl found herself crying in front of her servant once again.

"It was...just a nightmare Master. You don't need to worry, you're safe right now," Archer tried, feeling stressed out at his master's current state. Just what was he supposed to do to stop her from crying?! Even he was starting to panic!

"No...that's not it! It...It was painful but...!" She goes silent, almost as if scared to finish her sentence. "...It was...the fear...of not being able to do anything," she eventually finished, her voice sounding so lost and broken. She Her eyes stung from crying for so long, her nose felt all nasally and disgusting and all she wanted to do at that very moment was curl into a ball and hide.

"I couldn't do anything at all Archer. I couldn't help you when you were fighting against Rider. I couldn't save you when you got injured. I couldn't even run away from Shinji and Rider before I got...killed!" Just uttering the last word gave her a sick, nauseous feeling in her stomach as she looked at her servant sorrowfully. "I wasn't able to do anything at all Archer. It is not Shinji or Rider that I am scared of but...it was the fact that I was so...powerless, that I couldn't even do a single damn thing when we faced against them!"

Archer was about to retort back but was cut off by Hakuno's trembling voice. "I even allowed you to die without being able to help you! You risked yourself for me like you always did, but all I could do was watch until you perished!" She was well aware of how pathetic she must look towards her servant, but she couldn't stop the stupid tears from escaping her eyes.

Archer suppressed the urge to sigh or massage his temples as he tried to soothe her. "Master...it was just a bad dream. What happened to you wasn't real, so you need not be-" "Who's to say that this couldn't happen in real life, here within the Moon Cell?!" Hakuno herself felt shocked at how harshly she retorted back at him, but she of all people knew the sad truth.

She knew of how useless she was to him as his master, how powerless she was during battle, how cowardly she really was, how she served no purpose other than being a mere spectator that couldn't do anything. She couldn't even offer any support whatsoever the last time they fought against Shinji and Rider! And the dream she had felt a huge slap towards her face of the reality of it all; it reflected what really could happen to both her and Archer with the way things were now, and that frightened her terribly. The last thing she wanted was for both of them to get hurt...or possibly even...die because of her!

She was just a master who happened to be lucky and got saved on a whim by a servant who took pity on her. Heck, she didn't even have any memories when she awoke in this place! She was a powerless being who constantly needed saving from her servant like a damsel in distress, and couldn't even stand up to Shinji or help her servant when he needed it on the battlefield; she was like a cheap, hideous plastic decoration put on display that served no general purpose.

She didn't belong here, no matter how she looked at it. She shouldn't have that privillege when others better than her should've lived on and fought in her place instead. She couldn't even stomach the fact that she needed to kill Shinji in order to survive.

 _She didn't deserve to l_ _ive._

The girl sat there, hopeless, sorrowful and filled with despair. What could she possibly do? There was nothing beneficial that she could offer her servant to prove that she was worthy of being his master, of standing on the battlefield as a useful asset that would give them the upper hand. She was always just standing on the sidelines, watching Archer as he risked himself to make them stronger. At this rate, it was obvious that they would never beat Shinji, not with the way she was now.

 _She was afraid._

How could she not be? Just a few days ago she assumed that she was living a normal life, attending school with her classmates who weren't trying neck-to-neck to kill one another. Just the mere notion of taking one's life had her feeling sick to the core, at both the reality of it all and at herself. She hated the fact that she was so weak, so useless, so-

She was abruptly broken out of her thoughts when Archer swiftly took ahold of her wrists once again, pulling them away. She didn't even bother to struggle against him this time, her head hung low in shame as her bangs shielding her eyes away from his gaze. She didn't know how to act or what to say anymore.

"You're alive." Hakuno stopped, her eyes wide as she stared blankly at the sheets, still afraid to look back up at him. "...You're alive and breathing Master. You're sitting before me now, fully awake and alive." Archer slowly pulled his hands away from her face to grasp her hands, gently removing them from her eyes as he leaned in slightly closer to look into her chocolate-brown irises.

At this moment, Hakuno would feel a tiny tinkle of joy, but was quickly replaced by frustration and sadness. "...But what about tomorrow? Or during the Elimination Battle? There's no guarantee that we'll be able to...live," she says in a hushed tone, her throat raw and sore from crying. She frowns, her puffy eyes squinting at him.

"...You're aware as well, aren't you? That I'm not capable of being a master who's better than Shinji. I can barely provide you sufficient support much less defend myself from enemy programs or even stand up to Shinji in terms of his skills." Archer doesn't retort or respond as she goes on, her fingers curling back into fists as her nails dung into her palms.

"I'm clumsy and clueless, and I don't know my way around magic or sorcery or even heroic spirit history. I'm powerless in battles and all I can do is heal you when you risk yourself...for my sake." She gives out a bitter chuckle despite the pain that enveloped their throat. "We can't win. You deserve a master that can properly fight, a master that has your back when you're in a pinch during battle, a master who can at least take care of herself...and I can't be that person. I'm only gonna end up pulling both of us down Archer. And...I'm so sorry."

Her apology sounded regretful and...just...sad. She didn't know what else to say anymore other than apologizing to her servant. She had to inwardly curse as her vision started blurring again. Great, so she was gonna break down in front of him for the third time. As if things couldn't get any worse than this.

What better way to reveal her horrific, weak self to her servant than to add to the situation by crying like a baby? Hakuno had to applaud for her inability to hold in her emotions when she needed it most (real smooth Hakuno, great job!) She didn't think that there could be any situation as complicated as this at this very moment. She hadn't intended for the situation to escalate to this point...but the pressure was just too much for her to take in at the moment.

Archer doesn't say anything for a while, choosing to remain silent until eventually, his grip on her hands tightened. "...I'm not going to deny your flaws as a master. Indeed, compared to other magi, you are rather inexperienced, and lack even the basic knowledge on magecraft or sorcery."

"You are clumsy especially when we're in the Arena, and your magic circuits are only capable of supplying me mana and healing me when I'm wounded. You constantly allow yourself to get influenced by your enemies, and almost got yourself killed within the first few days." Hakuno didn't know whether she wanted to listen on anymore, tensing her shoulders at his scathing comments; she wanted to shut her eyes tight to avoid his gaze, to cover her ears to drown out his criticism and complaints, to get away from this ridiculous, convoluted reality that was placed before her.

Hakuno almost laughed at the thought. If there was one thing she found out during the past 4 days, it was that she not only was powerless, but was a major coward who didn't want to stand up to her foes. She was a coward who only slowed Archer down when they were in the Arena, a coward that can't even look at their enemies straight in the eye without breaking into sweat or a nervous wreck.

Rin was right; she could never survive and proceed onto the next round in such a state. Who was she kidding?! She must've been out of her mind to even think for a mere second that she maybe stood a chance against Shinji and his servant, that she and Archer could actually win! Such a thing seemed nothing but absolutely crazy to her now that she thought about it.

"But...underneath all that, I see a woman who compromises her lack of strength with diligence. I see a woman who tries to analyze a situation carefully before making a move." Archer's gaze doesn't falter, staring straight into Hakuno's eyes as he continues.

"I see someone who stays in the Arena for hours to train. I am looking at the same person who works very hard to improve herself. I am staring at the woman who doesn't get ahead of herself, and tries to find as much as she can about her opponent. And most of all..." Archer allows himself a pause, seeing Hakuno's eyes flicker towards him in astonishment. Had...had her ears betrayed her...or?

"...The same woman that I'm staring at now is a master who considers the wellbeing of others over herself, and does her very best each day," he finally finishes, giving a hands a light squeeze. Hakuno opens her mouth, unsure of what to say due to the shock for a moment. "...And that master is you," he quietly adds.

Now it was Hakuno's turn to stay silent. No...no he...he couldn't have, surely he couldn't have. Had her servant, the same sarcastic man who had teased her and bombarded her with insults when they first met, said all those nice things about her...? Somehow, she found it extremely difficult to believe and process. "You...honestly think so?" She asks timidly after a while, trying to hide the hue of red that dusted her cheeks.

Archer lets out a cough, clearly uncomfortable with what he just uttered. "...I mean...you are too soft hearted for your own good. That, and I bet Rin thinks so as well." Looking away from her, Archer sighs. "Besides, I am your servant. As I mentioned, it is a servant's duty to begin with to protect their master. So...don't beat yourself up over it too much. I'm well aware that you're trying your best in your own way too."

Moving away, he brings a hand to her forehead and lightly flicks it to emphasize his point. "And also, who says we can't win? We've discovered a lot about Shinji's servant, and I've also gotten stronger after regaining of my abilities and skills from that Alteration of the Soul."

Poking her forehead, he lets his index finger linger there for a while before he withdraws his hands back to his side, crossing his arms over his chest and letting out a huff. "Don't come to the conclusion that we'll lose just because Shinji's servant is powerful. Even I've got some tricks up my sleeve. That, and I don't intend to go down without a fight, so you should too."

Hakuno was taken aback, too surprised to even reply to her servant's words. Unexpectedly, the corners of her mouth began to curl into a small smile, an earnest one. To think that her servant would be able to console her like this; the girl almost wanted to laugh at the absurdity of it all. "...Thanks Archer. I...I think I feel better now," she replies, the smile never leaving her features.

"Hmph, don't expect me to say those sorta sappy things often. Anyway, there's still a few hours till the sun rises. I'd recommend that you go back to sleep and get some rest. We have another long day ahead of us tomorrow." Hakuno frowns at his suggestion, her smile slipping as she bit on her bottom lip; the girl didn't really wanna go back to sleep after waking up from that horrible nightmare that got both of them into this dilemma in the first place.

Sighing once again, Archer slowly stands up and brings a hand to pat her head, ruffling her hair. "There's no need to be afraid master. I doubt you'll have the same nightmare twice in one night. But if anything happens, I'll be nearby." Somehow, his gestures and voice reassured her, as the girl unknowingly began to smile once again. Oddly enough, he almost seemed like some sort of father that was consoling his daughter or something. "...Alright. Thanks again Archer. And...I'm really sorry for waking you up."

Shaking his head, Archer suppresses a yawn as he withdraws his hand from her head. "It's fine. Anyway, get some rest." Nodding, Hakuno allows her head to fall back onto her pillow, her eyes closing as Archer made his way back to his throne of chairs, plopping into his usual position.

Hakuno waited until she could hear Archer's slow, soft breathing, indicating that he had fallen asleep before choosing to open her eyes. Staring at her servant, she couldn't help but smile gratefully at him before she too soon fell asleep. "Thank you, and good night...Archer."


	22. Confidence in Oneself

_The room is silent, with only the few moments of disturbance from her quiet breathing and shuffling of feet across the tiles. The girl carefully stands on her toes as she places the book back on the shelf from where she took it._

 _Making her way towards the couch, she gently sits on it before pulling her legs closer towards her, with her chin rested on her knees. Her pupils glance over towards the man who seemed to be going over some important documents, a serious expression worn over his features._

 _How long had he been inside of this room without proper rest? A day or two maybe? Or perhaps even longer? The girl couldn't help but stare at the man in wonder, curious as to how he can continue going about with his work without seeming tired or exhausted._

 _As if he felt her eyes on her, the man looks up from the bundles of papers in his hands at her, the corners of his lips curling up slowly to form a smile. "Ah, Hakuno...are you done reading the book? That was fast," he commented, earning a nod from the brown-haired female._

 _The man continues to smile as he goes on with his work, the girl's eyes never leaving his stature. "Sorry, but I don't think I'll be done anytime soon. You can go ahead and rest first if you like," he says after a moment, eyes still glued onto the papers. Hakuno's eyes drift towards her feet. "...It's fine...I'm ok," she replies slowly in a soft voice._

 _In all the time that she's spent in this room, there had only been a few moments where he'd ask her to help with his work...most of which was just to sort some papers into stacks for him to read later. Closing her eyes, she allows the calm silence to ease her mind, the sound of the clock ticking by a corner. Really...what a wonder it was for him to be so busy._

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

Archer had long been awake, watching over his sleeping master in silence. Though stirring every now and then, the girl mostly kept still, with the slow rise and fall of her chest to indicate that she was still alive and well despite appearing to look like some dying patient on their deathbed.

The past events that occurred mere hours ago began resurfacing in his mind; the look on her face while she cried, the way her body shook in such fear as she spoke, and the hopelessness that was laced in her voice as she broke down in tears before him. Never did he imagine seeing such despair on her features. In fact, her crying back in the nurse's office was almost nothing compared to the spluttering mess she had been a few hours ago; she was probably holding it in back then.

Somehow, the man couldn't help but feel pity towards his master, fully aware that she was a person of no past experience in magecraft, alchemy or any form of sorcery for that matter to be even qualified as a decent magus. This girl was but a fragile being who was forced to participate, to slaughter and kill to live. Then again, it wasn't like she had much of a choice when given the option to survive and continue onto the main tournament or die during the prelims.

Their opponent this time was idiotic but otherwise a tough foe. While Archer himself usually wouldn't be saying this, he himself had a tough time dealing with the opponent's servant whenever they faced off in the Arena. Not only is he lacking in strength due to his master's noviceness, the female herself was pretty reluctant in hurting Shinji to begin with. Forget about hurting, they were going to face a battle to the death when the week ends, and only one of them of going to emerge victorious while the other dead.

The man gave a quiet sigh, massaging the bridge of his nose in irritation at the situation they were in. While he did ensure his master earlier that he would fight with all he got, he still had his doubts. Sure, he would fight against Rider and protect his master till he drew his last breath, but even then there was no telling what could happen in the next 2 days or during the Elimination Battle.

It was then that he noticed her waking up. It took a few minutes before the girl places her hands to her eyes, rubbing them gently as her fingers graze over her eyelashes. She slowly pops her eyes open as she does so, letting out a tired groan as her chocolate brown irises moved left to right to gaze at her surroundings. While still a little swollen and looking tired, Archer was overall glad that her eyes didn't look red and bloodshot. Her body shifts on the bed before she rises to a sitting form.

"Good morning Master," he promptly greets. This of course, causes her to look at him. She pauses, taking a moment to stare at him, looking to be deep in thought before a gentle shade of pink colours her cheeks. She shift aways slightly to avoid looking at him, replying back with a quiet "...Good morning Archer." which seemed slightly uncharacteristic of her seeing that she had been greeting him with a smile these past few mornings. She must still be slightly embarassed after last night's incident. Well...anyone would be after breaking down like that.

...And on another side note, he was also glad that her throat seemed fine (despite it sounding a little raspy than usual) as well.

Deciding not to linger on last night's event, Archer clears his throat. "You seemed to have slept well. I hope that you're ready for another hectic day?" he inquires. This causes her to visibly stiffen, before she finally turns to me, a rather forced smile on her lips. "Yeah, I am."

While Archer didn't really mind letting his master rest a little more, it was better for them to get as much training as they can within the short period of time they had left. That...and Archer didn't wanna risk his master having another bad dream or something; he had been through a lot just to console her after just one nightmare.

After showering and getting dressed, the two exited the room, with Archer disappearing into astral form as soon as Hakuno opened the door. "So, what's the agenda for today Master? Are we going to do anything besides attending classes and getting more info on our opponent?"

Despite the fact that not even a week has passed, the two were doing the same repetitive routine that it seemed like a schedule at some point...not that he cared. After all, there was nothing much one could do when they're stuck inside a killing game of all things.

"Hmm...I was thinking of heading to the commisary to stock up on supplies since we did use quite a few ether crystals yesterday in the arena. library to research more on Rider's background before classes start. Then I suppose we can head to the library to research more on Rider's background before classes start. That, and I was also thinking of getting more points for the Alteration of the Soul when we head into the arena later after classes end. Besides those, I think that we can pretty much do the usual," Hakuno replies, tapping her chin as if trying to remember if she had forgotten anything else. At the casual mention of this, Archer's expression turns to one of surprise.

"...What?" the girl asks after some time when she realized the odd reaction and silence she was getting. "Ah...no. Perhaps it was just me overthinking things," her partner replies, crossing his arms over his chest. "...? What do you mean by that?" She tilts her head to the side, frowning at him as an obvious sign that she had no idea what he was talking about.

"Er...no...well...I presumed that you would still be shaken up after yesterday's Alteration of the Soul...but it seems that I was wrong." Hakuno blanks out at his statement, taking a moment to process his words. Yesterday's Alteration of the Soul...? What could he be-

"...Oh." Suddenly realizing what he meant, a light tint appears on her cheeks as she looks away. "Wait...don't tell me you've already forgotten? After you were so embarassed too-" "I wasn't embarassed! You just...said it in such a roundabout way," she immediately replies, cutting him off before he could finish.

Biting down on her lower lip, she forces herself to look back at him in the eye, praying that her face was not flushed red. "B-Besides...if we managed to get through to the next round, we'll have to get used to...holding hands and all," she adds, attempting to sound dead serious. She did have a point. It wasn't like she could keep acting like some main character in an otome game if she was going to have to hold her servant's hand every time they did an Alteration of the Soul; this was to strengthen Archer after all.

This war that she was in was a matter of life or death itself, with no in-betweens. She certainly couldn't place herself against the other masters if she were to continue to act the way she currently was. Her servant goes silent at her words for a brief moment, before he lets out a small chuckle. "...Get through to the next round, huh?"

"W-What's so funny?" Hakuno asks, slightly dumbfounded by his change in attitude. "Nothing, nothing at all. I just noticed that you sound more like an actual master with the way you planned out the day." Hakuno narrows her eyes at Archer, unsure of whether he was being sarcastic as usual or not. "Um...thanks...I guess? Doesn't sound much like a compliment when you say it though," she slowly replies, muttering the last sentence under her breath.

Upon walking down the hallway to get to the commissary, she almost runs into the school's nurse, Sakura Matou. The violet-haired girl smiles kindly at her as soon as their eyes met, her rosy lips quirked upwards. "Ah, good morning Kishinami-san! I hope that you've slept well last night." "Ah...yeah." Somehow, it felt kinda odd bumping into her now of all times, especially while knowing that she was an AI.

"Oh, that's right! I almost forgot to give you something!" Rummaging through the large pockets of her white lab coat, Sakura eventually takes out what appears to be large pouch of ether powder. "Starting today, the nurse's office will be stocking healing supplies. These healing suuplies will be distributed once per round to all participating masters. With that said, please don't forget to drop by when you have a spare moment!"

With the smile not leaving her features, Sakura waves and slowly walks away, retreating back to the nurse's office. Hakuno watches her with raised eyebrows before she stores the healing item away in her terminal's item inventory. This item would certainly come in handy later at the Arena.

Heading downstairs to the commissary, she takes notice almost instantly of an all-too familiar girl standing by the counter, her twintails swaying in motion to her head as she looks to be asking the lady at the counter about something. Carefully approaching her, Hakuno waits until the woman at the counter nods and walks away to retrieve whatever item that Rin had ordered. "Hey Rin."

Turning her head, Rin's sea-blue eyes meet Hakuno's as she flashed her a smile. "Oh, hey there Hakuno. How are things doing between you and wakame?" she casually brings up. Hakuno sweatdrops; by wakame she meant 'him', didn't she?

"Everything's alright so far. What about you?" Rin leans her back against the counter as she sighs. "It's okay, though my opponent this round seems a little feisty whenever we meet in the Arena. It's a little troublesome dealing with them I'd say," she sighs. "Ah...I see..." So even strong people like Rin face a problem or two with their opponent. It was reassuring to know that she wasn't the only one stuck with a problematic opponent.

"So, I know this seems kinda random and all but I couldn't help but eavesdrop on your conversation with Leo yesterday." Stiffening, Hakuno watches as Rin drums her fingers along the counter, a neutral expression on her face. "That's...well..."

Sighing, the red-clothed girl leans against the counter, propping her elbow on it as she rested her left cheek on her hand. "Relax, I won't bite, nor will I tell you who you should or should not be conversing with." At the mention of it, the brown-haired girl blinks in surprise. "...However, I will warn you once again. Everyone in here apart from the NPCs and your servant are your enemies...me included of course."

Rin's eyes wander towards the few masters present in the cafeteria, her neutral expression unchanging as she went on. "It's fine to talk with them every now and then but...if you let your guard down for even a second, it'll be game over for you," she says just as the counter lady came back with her items. Storing them away in her terminal, Rin throws her hair over her shoulder, her lips now curling upwards to form a smile.

"Anyway, the Elimination Battle's in two days, and I look forward to seeing who emerges as the survivor in your battle," Rin smirks, playfully slapping Hakuno across the shoulder before she walks off. Hakuno watches her in confusion as the proud woman strodes off upstairs. Hakuno bites down on her lower lip as she watches Rin slowly disappear to the first floor.

The woman's words certainly held some truth in them, and even her servant had warned her in advance of such a thing. Her mind flashes back to Nagisa, the same girl who continuosly approached her and talked with her like they were old friends. Rin had also been, in a way, helping her out whenever she was clueless or lost these past few days. They both were considered an enemy, that of which Hakuno had to remind herself after every conversation they had...yet...

Why is it so difficult to grasp and accept it in her mind? Was she really starting to consider Nagisa and Rin as her friends? Is her judgement getting clouded over by her mind rejecting the notion that those two girls are and will be her enemies throughout the course of the war?

The girl shakes her head. She souldn't start to feel sentimental now. In this war, there's no point befriending anyone. Friends will eventually abandon you and betray you at a moment's notice for their own survival and benefit anyway. Even people like Nagisa and Rin...

No, she shouldn't think of such things now. She had other things to do for the day, and she certainly didn't want such negativity to obstruct her in any way. The Elimination Battle was drawing close, and she had to ensure that she was prepared for it.

The brown-haired female barely manages to get to the library door after restocking on her supplies when it is violently slammed open, and out comes a pissed looking Shinji. "Dang it! I searched through all those books in the library and yet nothing! What a waste of my time!" he practically roars, causing Hakuno to cringe. Unfortunately for her, she was caught in yet another hallway with nowhere to hide...what a wonderful way to begin her day. Then again, the school's campus wasn't that big to begin with...so she wasn't too shocked to run into him first thing in the morning.

...She really wished she didn't though.

And of course, because she wasn't hiding like last time, Shinji sees her almost immediately. "H-Hakuno?! W-Well well well...to think that we'd meet so soon again right after our little brawl yesterday," he begins, blowing off a strand of hair from his face as he runs a hand through his hair. Hakuno had to resist wrinkling her nose in disgust as she manages to force a crooked smile on her lips. "Yeah...you too."

Shinji, as if not already sensing how incredibly uncomfortable Hakuno was feeling, started to yammer like usual about how he was gonna 'kick both her and her servant's asses' and that she stood no chance against her, with Hakuno only half-listening and practically tuning Shinji out like he was white noise. Well, part of her also didn't really feel like listening after the nightmare she had last night.

"Anyway, don't think that you can get off so easily today! I will definitely emerge as the champion for this round whether you like or or not, you hear me?!" Shinji finally concludes as he practically shoves Hakuno out of the way as he walks down the hallway, with Hakuno's eyebrows creasing to form a frown. She was well aware of Shinji's bad temper, but it seemed like his ability to lose his patience at practically anything had increased by thousandfold since the preliminaries.

"Don't let his words get to you. The guy's probably resulting to lame insults because he doesn't have much going on for him. That, and he'll be penalized even further if he tries to do anything else like he did to you in the girls' restroom the other day," Archer says, his voice cutting through her thoughts. Hakuno lets out a sigh in response. Archer had a point; there was no use worrying about trivial matters when she should be focusing on preparing for the Elimination Battle. "I suppose you're right."

"...At the end of the day, the master who prepares and plan ahead the most will emerge as the winner. Continue doing your part, and I can guarantee you that I'll last against Rider," he adds in, lightly flicking Hakuno on the forehead to remove the frown from her features. Hakuno looks up and blinks at her servant at his advice. That was...unexpected. Was this his way of supposedly cheering her up after last night?

Unknowingly, a small smile appears onto her features. "Yeah, thanks Archer." Archer gives a nod, crossing his arms over his chest, his stoic expression unchanged just as Hakuno enters the library to scout out for more books regardinh her current opponent's servant.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

The bell rings just as Taiga Fujimura dismisses the class, dashing out of the classroom like usual as Hakuno stares absentmindedly out the window. To think that she would be forced into a life-or-death battle with Shinji in two days. It was still something unbelievable and difficult to digest even after so many days had already passed. A sigh casually slips from her lips she she buried her face on her desk.

It didn't help that she couldn't find much on Rider earlier since classes were about to commence by the time she found the books she wanted. She would probably have to come back later or even tomorrow to continue her research given the time she had left to do her training in the Arena.

That's right...she and Archer had to get stronger. She had already gotten a good amount of information on Shinji's servant, and had studied up on all the battle tactics Taiga had taught during the lessons. The only thing left to do is get her training done in the Arena. After all, despite the knowledge she had of Rider, the servant was still pretty strong, and could definitely tip the odds against her and Archer if they weren't careful.

Hakuno sighs once again, well aware of how often she had been doing so. She should've been more or less prepared for the Elimination Battle...yet the sense of unease and dread still lingers in her. That, and the nightmare last night had only helped in increasing her doubt and worry.

Eventually lifting her head from her desk, she could already spot a familiar individual walking towards her. Turning her head, she gives a half-smile at Nagisa just as she reaches her table. "Hey there...couldn't help but notice you looking rather down. You ok?" Nagisa asks, offering her a sympathetic smile.

Hakuno forces herself to laugh at her question despite knowing the answer all too well. "Yeah...just a little tired, that's all." Nagisa tilts her head to the head, quirking an eyebrow at her response but decides to pursue no further.

Staring at Nagisa, Hakuno couldn't help but feel a little envious of her. Despite being fully aware that her opponent this round is quite powerful, possibly even more powerful than Rider, Nagisa still looks unfazed and energetic. It was one thing that Hakuno wished she had, given at how pessimistic she's been ever since the first round had begun.

"Hey Nagisa...about your Elimination Battle with Leo...," Hakuno begins. "Hmm? What about it?" Hakuno hesitates, unsure of how to approach her question before she finally asks after a moment of thinking. "That is...are you confident in...winning against him?"

Hakuno is met with silence as Nagisa stares at her blankly. The brown-haired master looks down at her hands in her lap, clearly regretting asking such a preposterous question. She hoped that Nagisa wouldn't misunderstand or take in her question the wrong way. "...Why do you ask?" Nagisa asks slowly, her voice carefully calm and somewhat relaxed.

Judging from the way her bright and happy demeanor had vanished from the moment Hakuno had raised the question, it was obvious that Nagisa was either curious or suspicious of the reason for her to do so. "That's...I do not mean to offend you. I'm merely curious. You always seem positive so..." The words tumbled clumsily out of her mouth, and Hakuno seems to be at a loss for words as she begins playing with the hem of her skirt nervously, with Nagisa not saying anything.

The minutes continued to tick by, with awkward silence and tension weighing the air. At this point, Hakuno was starting to regret asking in the first place. Maybe it was better if she hadn't...

"Well...the way I see it, approaching something positively is the best way you can get results right?" Hakuno looks up, blinking as her eyes widened ever so slightly. "...Huh?" Nagisa lets out a chuckle in amusement at her surprised look as she goes on.

"I mean...others may say that thinking in such a way means you're digging your own grave, but from my point of view, you can only truly achieve something you want by moving forward and being positive, even when things aren't looking so swell." Sitting onto the chair in front of Hakuno, Nagisa props her elbows on her desk and rests her chin in her hands.

"Sure, there aren't a lot of good things to get out of this chaotic holy grail war, but if you keep looking at the bad side of things, you'll eventually lose confidence in yourself that you'll be able to achieve anything...even surviving." Hakuno stays quiet as she goes on. "Only by acting positive can you start to think that you can achieve it. And when you think that you can achieve it, you start to try your best to achieve it. I mean...there's no denying that Leo and his servant are hella strong and it seems like a great feat to defeat him...but I _want_ to believe that I can beat him."

Leaning over, Nagisa places her hand on Hakuno's shoulder. "You're a great gal Hakuno...though at times I can't help but think that you need more confidence in yourself." She gives a wide grin to emphasize her point.

"Although we won't know how things will turn out in the future, I'd like to focus on the present as it is and take things one step at a time for now. You may not be a super strong master now, but you outta believe in yourself more that you can kick Shinji's ass! After all, you've also worked super hard to try and get stronger right? Then be proud of your efforts and don't let it go to waste with your negativity."

Nagisa stands, retracting her hand back to her side. "At any rate, I'm still going to do my best in the Elimination Battle and come back alive...so you should too Hakuno!" Hakuno, unable to respond to Nagisa's words, merely nods, a smile slowly replacing the worried look she had on her face a few minutes ago.

Satisfied, Nagisa gives Hakuno a good slap across the back. "That's better! Anyway, I gotta go to the commissary to get some supplies. See ya!" With no more to be said, Nagisa brisk walks out of the classroom, leaving Hakuno feeling better than earlier.

"Has the girl's words served any useful purpose?" Archer asks, leaning against the wall. "...I suppose," was all Hakuno replied as she sorted her notes and stood up. "...I see." It was odd that such simple advice could give her even the slightest bit of motivation, and that alone seemed to bring a chuckle to Hakuno's lips. Exiting the classroom herself, Hakuno decides not to waste anymore time and head to the chapel to get an Alteration of the Soul done.

Opening the doors to the huge chapel, Hakuno quietly walks inside, stroding forward towards the huge floating cube to which the two sisters were already there. Upon noticing her presence, Touko adjusts her spectacles while Aoko stares at her with an amused look.

"Hey there kiddo. Here for another Alteration of the Soul?" Aoko asks. Hakuno nods as her servant dematerializes before them. "Well then, since you already know the procedure, let's get started right away."

Once the procedure had been completed (and Hakuno quickly retracted her hand from Archer's before her heart could possibly burst from her chest), the female master turned to leave the chapel and head to the Arena...but not before getting stopped by Touko. "By the way, who's your opponent for this round? I heard that your opponent was assigned later than the other masters."

"Ah...well it's...Shinji Matou." Ugh, just the sound of his name gave her a headache. "Shinji Matou...ah right. He's the intolerable and annoying brat that came in here like he owned the place. Wouldn't stop yammering the whole time...not to mention that his fanclub was irritating me to no end as well." Hakuno laughed sheepishly at her comment. Well, at least someone else agreed that he had an insufferable personality.

"At any rate, I'd advised you to be careful around him. I'm probably not the first one to say this...but that kid and his servant are fairly strong. That, and I'd be grateful if you could give him a few good punches to the face during the Elimination Battle." Hakuno sweatdropped; just what on earth did Shinji do or say when he came to the chapel yesterday?? Well, he did get thrown out so...it must've been pretty bad.

"Good luck. Personally, I'd bet on you winning over him. That idiot deserves a good beating," Aoko adds. Hakuno could only force a smile in return. "Thanks...I'll...definitely come back for another Alteration of the Soul before the Elimination Battle." Aoko smirks in response. "Sure, come back anytime you need to. We'll always be here to attend to masters of all sorts anyways."

Stepping out of the chapel, she comes face to face with an elderly man...more specifically the same man who had thrown Shinji and his followers out of the chapel yesterday. "Oh...hello there young one. We meet again," he greets, his expression remaining neutral. "Ah...yes." For some reason, there was something about this man that felt...slightly off, though Hakuno couldn't quite put her finger on what it was.

"It must be odd seeing an old man like me participate in the holy grail war." Well that was unexpected; Hakuno thought that this man was an NPC at first. No wonder she thought that he seemed different compared to the other NPCs around the school. "Ah...no...that's..."

Without missing a beat, the man tips his head and walks into the chapel, stopping just a few feet from her as he turns. "Pardon me, but I must cut our conversation short. I too am here for an Alteration of the Soul before I head to the Arena." "O-Oh I see! Apologies for interrupting then." Not wanting to disturb him, Hakuno bows and quickly brisk walks back into the school building.

It was kinda hard to imagine that this seemingly harmless old man was actually a participating master as well...how odd yet intriguing. Did that mean that there were other masters like him who weren't students? Or maybe he was an exception? He could be pulling on her leg but...it didn't seem like he was lying to her either.

Standing before the door leading to the Arena, Hakuno checks to see if she had missed out on doing anything before proceeding to turn the doorknob. However, the moment she tried to open the door and enter the Arena, it seemed like she ran into a wall and was flung backwards after receiving a shock to her hand. Hakuno, now sitting on the floor stunned, winced as she touched her hand.

"Are you ok Master??" Archer asks almost immediately. Despite the pain that she was feeling in her hand, Hakuno slowly gets her feet, rubbing the spot that had received the shock. "Y-Yeah I'm ok...but...what was that?" Walking towards the door, Archer attempts to touch it, only for his hand to also receive a shock, only milder. "Tch, it seems like someone has put up a barrier to prevent you from entering the Arena," he replies, shaking his hand.

"A...A barrier?? Is...is that even allowed on school grounds?" Hakuno asks, bewildered. Setting up a barrier meant hacking into the system and altering the school's surroundings. Would the SE.RA.PH or Moon Cell even allow that in the first place?

"Technically, it shouldn't be possible for a master with amateur or low level hacking abilities. However, it is possible for an expert to set up a simple barrier...by placing a seal of some sort on the Arena door. It should be obvious that someone in this building doesn't want you to enter the Arena. And the only individual childish and cowardly enough to do that to you would of course be Shinji Matou," her servant explained.

Hakuno gritted her teeth. Of course Shinji had to go and cause her more trouble. Like it wasn't bad enough that he messed around with her like some toy for the past few days. Before, she just found him annoying but after these past few days, she was pissed at him to a point where steam could come out from her ears.

"Like they say, a leopard can't change its spots. Expect nothing but subterfuge from now on." Archer didn't even need to continue before Hakuno heard footsteps behind her. Whirling around, she glares at the person standing a few feet away from her, hands in their pockets and a large smirk on their lips.

"Hey there! Looks like you've been hitting the Arena pretty hard. Toughen up yet?" "Shinji...you did this didn't you?!" Shinji doesn't even try to deny her claims as he lets out a chuckle. "I was bored, so I decided to set up a few surprises here and there. My bad." Clenching her hands into fists, Hakuno continues to glare daggers at him. Just how childish and desperate was he to stoop as low as sabotaging her so she couldn't even enter the Arena?! This was just ridiculous!

"Oh, but I'm actually doing bottom feeding Masters like you a huge favour, since the Arena is a dangerous place. Weaklings like you shouldn't even need to step foot into the Arena to begin with," he goes on. "Release this barrier right now Shinji," Hakuno says, her voice calm despite the fact that she was ready to tackle Shinji to the ground and throttle him with her hands.

"Why should I? People like you should learn to remember your place. You've been getting rather cocky lately, and it's getting on my nerves, so I figured that I might as well teach you a lesson." The man pauses, giving another a chuckle before he continues. "...But if you must enter the Arena, you must track down the two magic sijils I set. However, once you make it into the Arena, I'll crush you like a cockroach. Show up if you dare." With his smirk growing wider, Shinji turns and begins walking away.

"See you later. Oh, and where are the magic sijils you ask? Find them yourself, loser!" With no more to be said, Shinji walks away and disappears down the hallway before Hakuno could give him a piece of her mind. The female master resisted the urge to curse aloud as she bit down on her bottom lip, attempting to calm herself down.

"Not to be offensive or anything Master, but I sometimes feel more like a babysitter than a servant." "...You don't say." At this point, Hakuno didn't even have a witty comeback; she was just plain upset to even care about Archer's sarcasm.

"Anyway, all jokes aside, this barrier is fairly weak, and is caused by an anomaly in the area's programming code. I guess that leaves us no choice but to track down the two locations that little vermin put his sijils," Archer suggests just as Hakuno was beginning to settle down. Right, she had no time to waste on the likes of Shinji. This barrier was probably one of his twisted ideas in getting her to at the very least, lose her composure and panic anyway. As of now, she should probably focus on finding those sijils so she could enter the Arena.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

She wasn't gonna lie...but finding those sijils was practically a joke.

While searching the first floor, she came across Sakura yet again who told her that Shinji had apparently stuck something on the door to the nurse's office which was preventing her from entering. Upon heading to the nurse's office, Hakuno confirmed her suspicions that Shinji had indeed placed one of the sijils on the door to the nurse's office of all places, promptly pulling it out. As soon as she did, the sijil fizzles into data.

"That's one down. The next sijil should probably be somewhere within the school building as well. Let's go and find it," Archer says. With a nod of the head, the two carry on with their search for the second sijil.

The second location wasn't too much of a hassle either. Nagisa had apparently gone back to the classroom to get something she had left behind when she saw Shinji placing something onto the desk next to Hakuno's and decided to tell her about it. And of course, that was where the second sijil was. Hakuno almost wanted to laugh out loud at how bad Shinji was at placing those sijils, but decided against it and quickly peeled it off. Like the first sijil, the second one also fizzled and faded away from her away into data.

"Now that's been taken care of, we can stop playing this silly game that we've been dragged into, though I won't deny that whoever initially dreamed this trap up is either a genius...or a savant. It's too bad that Shinji is an utter moron when it comes to finding suitable locations to place the sijils. Both the sijils were placed in locations that could easily be discovered or noticed by anyone. It could either be that he was doing it on purpose to distract you...or he's clearly an idiot." As much as Hakuno wouldn't really mind Archer going on, now wasn't exactly the best time to talk about Shinji.

"Since both the sijils are gone, that barrier around the Arena entrance should be gone as well. Let's hurry back so we can head to the Arena and get our training done," Archer instructs. Hakuno wasn't gonna complain as the two quickly headed downstairs and back towards the Arena entrance. She was well aware that they had wasted enough time playing Shinji's mind games when they could've been training in the Arena...so Hakuno wasn't gonna start arguing with Archer on that anytime soon.

As soon as Hakuno reached the Arena Entrance, she halted just a few feet away from the door, surprised and highly exasperated to see Shinji yet again...only this time his back was facing them and judging from the way he was acting, he hasn't noticed them yet.

...If Hakuno hadn't calmed down earlier, she was pretty sure that she would've gone over and given Shinji a good punch to his cheek or jaw by now. The amount of tedious and unnecessary trouble that both Hakuno and her servant had to go through and endure because of him was beyond infuriating.

Glancing at the door, she was relieved to see that the barrier was indeed gone, which meant that she could now head into the Arena to get her training done. Hakuno was about to call out to Shinji when he begins speaking aloud, shaking his head as he placed a hand to his forehead.

"Hmph, they got here faster than I expected. But all that means is that they didn't collect much treasure." Hakuno pauses. 'Didn't collect much treasure'? What did he mean by that? The brown-haired female doesn't even get a chance to ponder on before Shinji magically disappears into the Arena before she could stop him.

"What was that all about?" she asks, hoping that her servant might have some sort of idea. "Hmm...I'm not sure either but...it could be information on his servant...you should probably check it out later after our training in the Arena." At the mention of this, Hakuno comes to a sudden realization as her body stiffens. This of course, doesn't go unnoticed by Archer. "...? What's wrong? Did you forget to do something?"

Hakuno fidgets uncomfortably, giving her partner an anxious look. "No that's not it. Do you think...we might run into Shinji and Rider?" Archer scratches the back of his neck, looking over at the door to the Arena. "There's a possibility, especially since we both just saw Shinji enter the Arena. But unlike our first encounter, we now know more about Rider. That being said, I can probably stand my ground against her and make an escape if necessary."

While Hakuno certainly didn't doubt her servant's strength or abilities, she couldn't erase the shadow of doubt that lingered in her mind, the terrible nightmare haunting her at the back of her head like a bad omen. Still, she was well aware that she had she had to go into the Arena.

Sensing her worry, Archer gives his master a brief pat on the head. "Don't worry Master, I promise that whatever happens, I will protect you as your servant. Rider's bullets won't even touch you." "I know that but...I can't help but feel worried. What about you?" Hakuno had already witnessed Archer getting severely injured during their encounters with Rider, and while he was her servant, Hakuno didn't really like the idea of him acting as her meat-shield and take on all of Rider's blows.

Archer couldn't help but sigh and shake his head. Even at a time like this, she was still worried about his wellbeing. He was starting to wonder if his master truly grasped the idea that her servant was a heroic spirit. "Master, you're worrying for nothing. If you had forgotten, all the servants who have been summoned for the holy grail war are all Legendary Souls, historic figures who have accomplished deeds that have changed human history one way or the other. We're all more or less equipped to fight." Seeing how she was clearly not convinced, Archer pokes her on the forehead.

"Though I know that you're concerned since Rider is quite powerful and my abilities are hindered by your noviceness as my master, I can more or less hold out until we escape even in a weakened state...otherwise I wouldn't be much of a Legendary Soul to begin with. I'll also be careful should we face her. After all, I did mention that you would make it to the Elimination Battle. That, and I also did mention that we would both kick Shinji and Rider's asses then and there didn't I?" Walking over towards the Arena door, Archer motions for Hakuno to come over. "I don't to take back what I said. So trust your servant on this at least, alright? Besides, didn't that girl tell you to see the more positive side of things? You should also take her words to heart then."

Hakuno stares at Archer for a moment, before she finally gives in and walks forward, her look of uncertainty replaced with a small smile. "Yeah, you're right. Let's go Archer." Though Hakuno still had her doubts, she knew that she could trust her servant's words. Since the very beginning, Archer had, in a way, reassured her that no matter what, he would fufill his duty as her servant and get them both to the Elimination Battle. Nagisa was right; she had to be more positive.

Standing before the all too familiar door, the two entered the Arena.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

Archer leans back onto his throne of chairs, glancing at his master who was sitting on her bed amongst a pile of books, her face currently burried in one of them. "Master...I know that finding information on Rider is essential, but don't you think that it's time for you to get some rest? You've been reading those books for hours and it's getting late."

Ever since they had returned from the Arena, Hakuno had been busy digging through all the books that she borrowed from the library to find anything regarding Shinji's servant. While the two of them were grateful that they never ran into Shinji or Rider in the Arena despite Shinji's threat earlier that afternoon, Archer couldn't help but feel that her master was being paranoid.

...Overly paranoid at this point.

Hearing no response from his master, Archer gives a long sigh as he stands and walks over towards her, gently plucking the book from her hands. Hakuno lets out a tiny cry of protest, reaching out to grab the book from him. "Give that back Archer. I was almost done reading that section," she says, her eyebrows knitting together.

"No can do. It's already past midnight and you're still engrossed in reading. If I didn't come over and stop you, you could be reading all the way till the sun rose," Archer replies, his voice laced in its usual sarcasm. Hakuno frowns, sitting back onto the bed and crossing her arms over her chest. "What's wrong with that? We need to know more about Rider before the Elimination Battle anyway."

Archer resisted the urge to sigh once again as he grabs the other books off the bed and places them on the table beside it. "It's true that learning more about your opponent is important, but getting sufficient rest is just as essential. How do you intend to train tomorrow in the Arena if you're not up to par?" He seemed to have hit the mark as his master flinches before she looks away, pouting. "I get that...but...the Elimination Battle is the day after tomorrow. I can't help it," she replies, her eyes downcast.

"It's normal for anyone to be paranoid. However, getting overly paranoid at this point won't do you any good. It's best to sleep so you'll have enough energy tomorrow. Since tomorrow is the final day of preparation before your Elimination Battle, that's all the more reason why you should sleep well. As your servant, I can't have you lagging behind because you didn't get sufficient rest the night before." Hakuno opens her mouth to protest, but soon clamps her mouth shut, unable to argue back.

On the other hand, it seems a bit odd now that she noticed. Maybe it was just her, but Archer seems...relaxed? Completely unfazed over the fact that the two of them were going to literally face a life or death battle. Maybe it was because he was once a hero that went through much more horrific situations when he was still alive, but even Hakuno found it hard to believe that he wasn't stressed out in the least unlike her. "You seem...overly relaxed," she decides to say, raising an eyebrow.

Deciding to forgo her thoughts of Shinji and Rider at the moment, there was something else that definitely needed an immediate answer. With all the running about and mayhem that the duo had to deal with these past few days, the female master herself had almost forgotten all about it. Now that she had some time to converse with the servant...it was time that she brought the topic to the table.

Archer gives her a confused look, signaling that he wasn't too sure what Hakuno was trying to say. Sighing, she crosses her arms over her chest and gives him an unamused expression. "Don't try to dodge the subject. I'm pretty sure I've briefly addressed this in the past, but your...condenscending attitude is an issue. Aren't servants supposed to...y'know...respect and obey their master?" She tries to ask this as calm and casually as possible, but the underlying tone of annoyance was still evident in her voice that she had to inwardly grimace.

Ugh, it wasn't really like her to be all nitpicky and point out the faults or flaws of others, and to be fair...she herself knows that she hasn't exactly behaved in a manner that was deserving of this man's respect. She certainly was also aware of the fact that she sounded somewhat similar to Shinji barking demands at Rider. ...Actually, scratch that, she didn't wanna think of Shinji at the moment after all the nonsense she's been through because of him.

If she really had to compare herself to the likes of Shinji, Shinji was probably way worse with the way he practically treated Rider almost like she was dirt beneath his feet. Anyone watching from a third person's view would've probably even pity Rider for having to be stuck with one of the most annoying masters there was in this war, or one of the most annoying people undeserving of sympathy on this planet in general. Nonetheless, if she wanted the two of them to work together smoothly, it was something that she had to do anyway, regardless of whether she or Archer liked it or not.

Archer places a hand over his mouth in a lousy attempt of hiding the smirk from his face. "Of course. As a servant, it is my obligation to obey a magus whose abilities allow me to use my full strength...Master," he replies, the last few words laced with that hint of sarcasm that only made the brown-haired female narrow her eyes at him. Oh, of course he had to play that card...!

Archer looks away, seemingly oblivious to the glare that Hakuno was now shooting him with. "Hmm...I wonder if there is a magus in that room who even comes close to that requirement," he further taunts, his smirk growing ever so slightly. Hakuno grits her teeth, resisting the urge to either retort back something highly unpleasant or give him a good whack across the face by flinging her shoe at him. Damn him and that smirk of his!

If only it were possible to...change servants or something just to avoid or put an end to all this sarcasm and derision! It wasn't that she was overexaggerating or was being bratty and ungrateful. In fact, she was thankful for Archer's strength and advice from time to time, but the way that he had been testing her limits these past few days with his onslaught of insults, teasing and verbal abuse was just...aggravating! Believe it or not, but Hakuno would've gladly preferred a beautiful, graceful servant who's at the very least respectful and not bitter and jaded!

"Hahaha. Hahahaha. Hahahahaha." The laughter that echoes in the room sounds both amused and sarcastic. Why that...! And Archer even has the nerve to laugh at his master despite the fact that she's ready to blow up like a firecracker in his face. It was painful enough as it is just having to deal with this attitude for the past few days, but now she has to sit and endure his insults and taunting right in front of her. Where does this red-caped buffoon even get off laughing at her with that smug look on his face?!

"Ah there's nothing quite like the painful, unvarnished truth of youthful scorn. If it makes you feel any better, I understand exactly how you feel." Oh...just perfect, he's even aware of it yet still chooses to do it nonetheless...surely the mind of a sadist at work. "However, fate hasn't smiled upon you it seems. The normal, well-balanced servants have been out of stock for many rooms at this location." And he still insists on going on with his teasing. Hakuno wasn't sure if she wanted to continue listening to him or not at this point.

"Also, this establishment has a strict no-return policy. I guess we're both out of luck aren't we...Master?" The brown-haired student had to bite down on her lower lip to fight against the increasing urge to curse aloud. This servant just wouldn't stop with the insults now, would he?? She could be lying on the ground half-dead with a broken limb or two and he'd probably still come up with a dozen witty comments before even bothering to help her.

Unfortunately, as much as she'd liked to open her mouth and argue with him, Archer already views her with enough contempt. She has a number of opinions about his...unique attitude and personality, but the best choice would probably be to keep them to herself for now. Any further protests will most likely just result in her receiving more scorn from him. The two already had an odd and rather rocky Master-servant relationship to begin with, to a point where Hakuno almost feels like she's threading on thin ice half the time, so if sucking it up will not worsen the crack any further...she'll do it.

Returning back to his throne of chairs, Archer gets himself into a comfortable position before propping his feet up. "On another note, congratulations. Shinji Matou has his eye on you. It seems that he's finally treating you like a Master." Hakuno raises her eyebrows in confusion. "Should...should that even be a good thing?"

"It is in a way. That means that he's finally acknowledging your strength and sees you as a possible threat." Hakuno couldn't exactly imagine Shinji seeing her as an equal, but if what Archer says is true, then that means that he and Rider won't be pulling back any punches during the Elimination Battle.

"Although, of all places to wage a war, I wonder why they'd pick a twentieth century high school?" he suddenly mutters out loud amidst her thoughts, a frown sewn onto his features with the question drawing his master's attention from the books, her curious chocolate orbs drifting towards him. Looking over, he addresses what he meant upon noticing her confusion.

"I can only assume that you feel the same, but I have a strange affinity for places like this. With the exception of myself, this place must be a nightmare for most Legendary Souls. It's most likely a coincidence, but the choice of venue is could be intentional. As a soldier, I hope it was a fluke." "What did he mean 'intentional'?" Could there be a deeper meaning in making the stage for the holy grail war resemble a high school?

Hakuno only assumed that the Holy Grail chose the school due to a majority of the participants being students, but maybe there was more to that than what meets the eye? Could there be some hidden motive that she and probably the other fellow masters didn't know about?

"No, it's not so much the appearance of the stage itself as the motivations of whatever created it. If the Holy Grail created this place of its own accord, then I'd write it off as a coincidence. But, if someone's using it for their own purposes then there's more to worry about then just winning the war." Some unknown person using the Holy Grail...could it be that priest?

From her point of view, he seems uncharacteristically evil and manipulative for a man of the cloth. In fact, he didn't give off the best first impression when they initially met either. The way he acted rubbed her off the wrong way that she couldn't help but feel somewhat suspicious every time she saw him.

"A brilliant bit of deduction, but you're way off the mark. The priest is nothing more than an NPC. This is only my personal opinion, but no one could be using the Holy Grail or manipulating it. That'd only mean that the Holy Grail has already been claimed by someone. If that was true, then the Holy Grail War could not happen." Well...he had a fair point about that.

Using the Holy Grail would pretty much deem the user the winner of the Holy Grail War. It'd be kinda impossible and pointless for the war to even take place right now if that were the case. Her suspicions probably led her to read too much into Archer's words. However...

...Ignoring everything for a moment, why does Archer suddenly look so smug and self-satisfied? Hakuno couldn't help but frown at his change in expression. Was it something she said earlier?

"No...it's just that I find it amusing for you to call a man devoted to God 'evil and manipulative'." Archer briefly chuckles in response before he quickly waves it off. "You're lucky you don't know the truth. The real thing is far worse, and it seems that I'm stuck with him for eternity. While I'd like to complain, there isn't much that I can do about it either."

Archer shrugs his shoulders in resignation, seeming somewhat indifferent at the same time. It appears that he had met the priest before becoming a servant. Maybe that was why he seemed on edge when she first met Father Kotomine. ...Then again, anyone would given how Kotomine acted.

But if he knows the priest who is overseeing this Holy Grail War, then maybe he knows about the original war for the Grail...? Glancing towards him, Hakuno notices that Archer goes silent, a clear indication of not wanting to proceed with the current topic at hand.

...And the conversation ends, with her servant clamming up before Hakuno could raise anymore questions regarding the matter. By Archer's standards, that must've been the equivalent to idle banter. The look on his face as he contemplates the situation is enigmatic at best. Though she was still curious and wanted to know more about Archer's odd and strained relation to Kotomine, she guessed that it would have to wait for another time...much to her disappointment.

"But ...why a school? Outside the Arena, I don't see the need to have a place for magi to mingle." He must be referring to her constantly chatting with Nagisa, Rin and Leo. Hakuno was well-aware that such conversations wouldn't really help her much but...

"...Then again, maybe this place isn't for the master's benefit, but it is something the Holy Grail requires. Master, are you aware of the one obligation that all intelligent beings are required to meet?" His question catches her off guard, the brown-haired magus blinking in bewilderment. Well, that question certainly came out of nowhere.

Minimum obligation? Why didn't he ask about the definition of intelligence? From what she could tell, mankind developed their intelligence and bent the world to their will. They created organized societies and mighty civilizations, some of which still exist. But...what obligation is humanity required to fufill...?

"The one obligation of all intelligent beings is to reject stasis and complacency." Answering the question for her, Archer leans back on his throne of chairs and goes on. "If humanity just wanted to live, it'd be easy to live like animals and let natural selection run its course. But humans in general do not think like that. The abandonment of rational thought...it'd be like devolving back into man's primate predecessors."

He was right. Whether they liked it or not, humans are selfish and greedy beings by default, never fully contented with what they have and always craving for more, looking ways to achieve more...to gain more. It was natural for everyone to behave in such a manner, otherwise they'd be no different from the animals that roamed the earth, or the plants that sprouted from the ground. This was what made humans superior over all life forms.

Humans despised being stuck in one place, unable to move forward or thrive. And in return, such greed was rewarded with the evolution of mankind, the advancement of technology and knowledge paving the way to a better, higher standard of living, flourishing the economy with much prosperity.

"Precisely. No matter the circumstances or era, humans will always be inventive, progressive living beings. And regardless of how things will go in the future, they can never be satisfied leaving things as they are." While the subject was interesting in itself to think and talk about, Hakuno was starting to wonder why Archer had brought it up in the first place and how it had any relation to the Holy Grail War.

"In short, progression is the duty of any intelligent being. Their souls demand that they learn and evolve. The Holy Grail holds that aspect of humanity in the highest regard." Right...so that's why all the masters here are fighting for the Grail...to satisfy their desires that cannot be achieved by normal means alone.

"Thinking along those lines, this setting is supposed to remind masters of what makes them human." Human? In what way? By forcing all the masters in this school to go head to head in this senseless bloodbath...all for one prize? Yeah, she couldn't help but doubt that.

Even though the war did make use of man's primal instinct to chase after their desires no matter the cost, Hakuno couldn't see how the pros outweighed the cons. Perhaps it was her her inability to comprehend the situation with the proper mindset of a magus, but Hakuno couldn't see any regular human being killing their friends and loved ones just to get one wish granted from a mythical object.

The thought itself already seemed like something straight out of a movie. Sure, there were wars taking place around the world to seize countrol over resources, power, wealth and so on...but this was a different matter to consider. They were taking about people straight up murdering each other to obtain a wish-granting object.

While it did sound like something worth fighting for, the brown-haired female didn't think that so many lives needed to be sacrificed just to obtain it. Call her cowardly or a chicken...but such acts just sounded...cruel and utterly inhuman to her. The situation was almost similar to someone repeatedly stabbing another person to death for the chance to receive a toy they had always wanted but couldn't get for years.

This war was far too ridiculous for just the Holy Grail, no matter how powerful it may seem. And yet, perhaps it was the human's unability to suppresss their own needs and wants that led to this disaster anyway. As much as she hated it, there was nothing she could do about it either. That, and the Holy Grail would undoubtedly bring chaos and turmoil to the whole world if it fell into the hands of the wrong individual.

"While I don't sense any evil intent, that makes me even more suspicious. I don't think it's the fight itself that interests the Holy Grail. Rather, I think that it wants to observe how humans would confront one another in a real-life setting," he concludes. Hakuno tilts her head at his speculation. Did that mean that the Holy Grail purposely chose this school as the venue for the war to take place simply to remind the masters of the reality of the situation and see how they tackle it?

No matter how you thought of it, Hakuno couldn't feel like the puzzle was somewhat incomplete, that there was more to it than just that. In fact, the conclusion itself was already starting to raise a plethora of other questions in her head. What was the Holy Grail's actual intention behind all this madness? What outcome did the Holy Grail want to see from this bloodshed? Such questions remained in her mind.

"All chatter aside, it's time you get some rest. We have another busy day tomorrow, especially since it's the last day to prepare ourselves before the fight." She was abruptly yanked out from her thoughts by the sound of Archer's voice. Right...it was already this late. While she absolutely wouldn't mind conversing more about the topic with her servant, Hakuno knew that she had to go to sleep and prepare herself for another busy day of training and collecting information...only...

Looking over, Archer notices his master looking rather uncomfortable, still sitting on the bed instead of lying down like usual. "...Master? Is there something wrong?" The brown-haired female flinches once again, her body stiffening as she shakes her head. "Err...no. Nothing's wrong...only..." Archer cocks his head to the side, clearly confused to his master's sudden change in behaviour. Something was clearly bothering her.

Though he wasn't a big fan of guessing games, it didn't take him long to realize what was on his master's mind. "...Are you afraid of having that nightmare again?" Hakuno's eyes widen slightly as a light tint of pink colours her cheeks. "Um...that's...not..."

Seeing that she wasn't exactly denying it completely, Archer places a hand to his forehead. What a troublesome master he had. "Master..." "I know! I know it seems silly and childish and all...but..." Gripping onto the bed sheets, her frown deepens as she stares at the floor. She would be lying if she said that she wasn't scared of possibly having that nightmare again. "That nightmare...felt all too real." She goes quiet, unable to say anything else as she bit down on her lower lip, her bangs hiding her eyes.

"...Go to sleep Master. I'll be awake until you fall asleep." Hakuno, confused and surprised at his actions, looks up at him astonished as her mind took a few seconds to process what he had said. "I won't say it again. Now go to sleep." With that, Archer falls silent, looking away from her.

Hakuno continued to stare at him for a while, not quite registering what he had said earlier before a smile slowly creeps onto her lips. Finally giving in, she lies onto the bed and gently pulls the sheets over her, her eyes watching his figure until drowsiness eventually overtook her.

...And just as she closed her eyes, Hakuno could faintly hear her servant muttering 'good night'.

 **0101010101010101010101010101010101**

Archer looks over at his now sleeping master, her breathing soft and slow with her eyelids occasionally fluttering as she shifted. The preparation period was almost over, and the Elimination Battle was drawing closer with each passing second. It wouldn't be long before his master needed to fight against Shinji. That being said, he could see why she was being paranoid earlier. Anyone thrown into this life-or-death situation would.

Well, at least she was trying. Despite her many weaknesses and flaws, she was still working hard to make up for her noviceness as a mage. Even if the progress was slow, it was still progress nonetheless.

And although it wasn't hard to tell that her pessimistic side tended to demotivate her at times, all she needed was a push to get back to her feet. However, her lack of desire which only hindered her drive to go on was something Archer found surprising. That, and her habit of miraculously getting herself into trouble while being somewhat reckless was something he was still getting used to.

Archer wondered if his past self was as naive as her. ...Actually, screw that, his past self was probably way more reckless and naive than her now that he thought about it. His past self, unlike Hakuno, would rush straight into danger willingly without even giving it a second thought or even having a decent battle plan. While there was nothing he could do about it now, Archer questioned his own stupidity back then, cringing at the mere thought.

His thoughts then flash back to _her._ He wondered how she'dreact if they were to meet again. Knowing her, she'd probably laugh at his sorry state and tease him endlessly, before telling him to 'cheer up' and how it'll 'somehow work out in the end'. That was how he pictured it, and almost knew the words she was going to utter. It wasn't that she was predictable, but more of him having a feeling. Maybe it was due to their odd bond as servant and master back then, but Archer found himself smirking at the thought.

The differences between Hakuno and her were almost appalling. _She_ was an influential mage who never stopped until she got what she wanted, all while showing compassion and mercy to those who were powerless or weaker than her. _She_ was strong, but didn't neglect those who couldn't fend for themselves. Perhaps it was that trait of hers that made her stick out like a sore thumb.

While there were some similarities to her and the current Rin in this holy grail war, Archer knew that she wasn't the same. Sure, he could see some characteristic traits that both versions had, but this Rin was a different individual. This Rin knew the taste of bloodshed from a distinct perspective, her trained expression portraying the look of someone who had seen hundreds of people die in the past. This woman knew the hardships of war, and had gone through it on multiple occassions. And although there were still some mysteries surrounding her, Archer could tell that she was a foe not to be messed with.

He shakes his head. What good would it do to keep thinking about _her?_ That holy grail war had already ended a long time ago. There was no point lingering in the past; it would only hinder both himself and his master. For now, he had to focus on the wellbeing of his current master. Yeah, that was all that mattered right now.

His eyes trailed back to her sleeping face. To think that such an innocent girl would get thrown into this madness; the Holy Grail certainly had a dark sense of humour that Archer himself couldn't help but feel pity for her. He knew that Hakuno had good intentions, but such an attitude would only get herself killed in this place.

Hakuno was...normal to a point where it seemed abnormal and out of place in this war. Nothing stood out about her from the others, and she didn't have anything worth applauding for in terms of her abilities as a magus.That night she broke down and the conversation they had earlier further emphasized how weak-willed she truly was, not desiring to betray or kill anyone for her own gain.

It wasn't that he wanted her to be able to kill others without hesitation, but her lack of a resolve to do so was somewhat problematic on its own. Indeed, her innocence as a normal, teenage girl was both pure on its own while managing to be a huge issue to them as a servant-master duo. He even wondered how long he could keep up with such a disadvantage at their end.

Not only did it affect his overall abilities as a servant, but it also prevented him from outright just killing Shinji in the Arena and getting it over with. While he certainly could kill him on his own, such an act would probably scar and even break her...and he didn't want to deal with it after seeing how she cried that night from just a nightmare. She would probably never be able to recover from the shock and harsh reality if he were to do so.

Perhaps it was her lack of desire that made her like this. Then again, she had woken up with amnesia, so it was somewhat understanding. Though anyone would've been shaken to the core, he was still kind of astonished that Hakuno had been able to cope and keep on going so far. Anyone else would've long given up since the first day under such a predicament. Maybe that was one of her better trademarks as a master.

Archer had no doubt that Hakuno would've been a whole other person if her memories were intact. He had given some thought of how things would've turned out if she did wake up with her memories intact. Well...she would've probably still been super weak but...perhaps she wouldn't be as unwilling to kill as she is now, just like Nagisa.

...What was he saying? It almost sounded like Hakuno wouldn't mind killing someone else if she had her memories. Then again, how she even woke up with amnesia was still a major, unanswered mystery. That, and she was the only one out of all the participants to experience it.

He wondered how that was even possible in the first place. Was there some sort of error when she passed into the final room? Or could there have been something else that happened to her during the preliminaries which caused her to wake up in such a state? There were many possibilities and not enough answers that he was just going around in circles pondering about this matter.The red-clad servant must've surely drawn the short end of the stick with such a dilemma that it wasn't even worth laughing over.

...On another note, he had yet to ask his master about her wish for the holy grail. Though it was unlikely that they would win, Archer was still curious to know what she wanted nonetheless. ...Actually, did she even have a wish since she had no memories? For all he knew, Hakuno probably didn't even possess a concrete desire apart from wanting to stay alive. Ugh, this was frustrating. Maybe he should ask her some other time. For now, they had to focus on dealing with Rider and that brat.

Rider seemed relatively strong for someone under the command of an idiot. Though Shinji himself was an expert in hacking, his idiocy and irritionality had proved to be their downfall. Archer had no doubts that if he were paired against stronger masters like Rin or Leo instead, he would lose in a heartbeat.

Under any other circumstance, Rider would've probably also lost to him right away if he had a more competent and strong master. It wasn't as if Rider was weak, but it was that most of the faults pointed towards Shinji Matou.

That man had to have some sort of unexplainable talent to be able to unconsciously leak info on his servant without him even realizing it. Thankfully for him, he was paired with a novice this round. Whether that was a stroke of luck on his side or not, Shinji would definitely be able to flex his servant's power and abilities with Hakuno as his opponent.

Though they were strong, Archer didn't exactly wanna lose to them either. Maybe it was the fear of damaging his ego or merely his pride as a heroic spirit, but it didn't sit well for him to get his ass kicked nor just call it quits right there and then. Well...whatever, he would just have to see what happens in two days' time. He would see it out that their contract as master and servant as fufilled, and fight till he drew his last breath. Even if he was well aware of how weak his master was, he wasn't heartless enough to just give up and let her die on the spot either.

Closing his eyes, Archer finally allows himself to get some sleep. There wasn't much merit to thinking too much about such matters right now anyway, especially since the Elimination Battle was already near. He would just have to wait until the time came to get more answers. Shifting into a comfortable position, he relaxes just as his mind subconsciously drifts towards a certain someone with sea-blue eyes, smiling brightly at him.


End file.
